Man Plans, God Laughs
by purple.sunrise
Summary: Hotch and Emily elope while in Vegas for a case(4.6/4.7). They wait to tell the team when they are all together back in Quantico the next day but things don't go as planned. Months later the team still doesn't know when near tragedy strikes. Will everyone survive unscathed? How will the team react to the news and being kept in the dark for so long? Set in Season 4 then AU.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Thanks for checking out this story. Unlike my other stories that have been published as WIP, this is a finished story for which I will be publishing regular updates. **

**I actually started this and another story at the same time as The Good Daughter. The Good Daughter came together quicker so I focused on it however frequently came back to this one when I was having writer's block. I realized in the fall that it was mostly done so over the last few months I've been working to finish it. **

**Please let me know what you think.**

**Disclaimer- I own nothing.**

**CHAPTER 1**

Hotch and Emily were relaxing at the table in the restaurant after dinner with the team. Or at least most of the team. Garcia was still back in Quantico and Reid had skipped the team dinner to spend time with his mom.

The rest of the team had already excused themselves one by one for the evening. Morgan was planning to hit the clubs, saying he would see all of them in the morning. JJ had retired early, tired from the emotional case they had just help solve while in the last weeks of her pregnancy. Rossi had been the last to go, planning to spend the evening at the cigar bar housed at their hotel.

With it just being the two of them, they were enjoying their conversation and the wine they were both sipping. And now that they were alone, they had switched back to a topic that they had been bouncing around between them for the last few weeks- the future of their relationship.

Hotch had begun to see Emily in a completely different light when she had refused to spy on the team for Strauss.

In the following months, the two of them had become closer as Emily became his rock after Haley walked away from their marriage and he found himself suddenly needing to navigate through the process of a separation and then later a divorce.

More mornings than he could count Emily had brought him food and coffee after noticing on a couple of occasions that he was considering something from the vending machine breakfast. On many evenings they had gotten takeout and gone to her apartment to eat and watch a movie with him staying in the guest room because the thought of going home to an empty house was too painful.

When Hotch had agreed as part of Haley's divorce settlement to move out of the house, Emily had gone with him to find an apartment. And then helped him get settled once he had chosen one.

During what would have been the lowest times of his life during those harrowing months, there had been Emily holding him above water, refusing to let the despair at the crumbling of his marriage pull him under.

It was the day after he took her home from the airport after her and Reid had been held at the Colorado compound that Hotch admitted to Emily what he had concluded when they first arrived on the scene. He was in love with her and couldn't see a future without her.

His heart had melted when in response to his declaration, Emily has given him a brilliant smile and made her own confession. That she realized she was in love with him in New York in the tense minutes when they didn't know if he had survived the explosion of his SUV. It was later that night that they had made love for the first time.

As they finished their wine, Emily leaned over and whispered into his ear, "What do you say we head upstairs?"

Hotch looked at her nervously knowing what he had planned would have huge repercussions for the future of their relationship. "Sweetheart, would you mind waiting a bit before we head upstairs? I want us to make a stop or two first."

Emily sighed and said tiredly, "Aaron, I don't want to go to a bar, club or casino. I just want to be with you tonight."

Hotch reached over and stroked her cheek with his thumb before saying, "I'm glad to hear that. And we will, just a little later. Let's go for a walk." He stood up and walked over beside her holding out his hand and waited patiently for her to take it.

After walking for several minutes, they reached the spot that when he saw it the night before he knew that it would be perfect for what he was about to do.

Dropping down to one knee in front of her, Hotch looked at her and said, "Emily I love you and want to spend the rest of our lives together. Marry me?"

Tears came into her eyes as she reached out and pulled him back up onto his feet. Taking his face in her hands she responded, "I love you too Aaron. Yes, I'll marry you."

A huge smile came over his face before he leaned in to kiss her. As he pulled back and rested his forehead on her, he said quietly, "what would you say to getting married tonight?"

Emily pulled back away from him and looked at him critically before asking, "what? Why the rush?"

Hotch sighed and started to wonder if maybe it was too much too soon. Noticing an empty bench behind them, he put his arm around her shoulders and lead them to the bench to sit down. Once they were settled on the bench he turned to her and said, "because I want to be with you. Life is too short and I don't want to wait another day."

He paused looking down at the ground as he gave her a few minutes to consider what he had just asked. When she didn't respond, he took her hand and squeezed it before continuing, "but if you prefer we can wait and plan whatever type of wedding you'd prefer."

Emily looked up and over at him, taking in the concerned look on his face. She smiled back at him as she said, "let's do it tonight."

Noticing that he was still watching her intently, she continued, "I don't want a huge formal ceremony but Mother will insist on it. I want our wedding to be special for us, not a society event for her."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to have any regrets." Hotch said watching her intently.

Emily sighed before shaking her head as she said, "my only regret would be not marrying you tonight now that I know that you want this. I want to be your wife."

Hotch smiled at her before turning serious and saying, "OK, tonight. What about the team?"

Emily looked down at the ground thinking about the team. If they wanted to team there, they weren't going to be getting married that night. She sighed and looked over at Hotch and said, "I think we tell them after we get back."

Hotch looked at her surprised, expecting that this aspect would be a sticking point for her before he asked, "you don't want them there?"

Emily nodded as she responded, "only if we could have all of them and that isn't possible with Pen back in Quantico."

Then she sighed before continuing, "we could probably find Rossi if we tried. But JJ is most certainly already asleep. She looked really tired at dinner. I don't want to pull Reid away from his mom. And Morgan. Well I don't even want to think about what he is doing." She paused and looked down at the ground before looking back at him as she said, "I say we tell them when we are all together once we get home."

Hotch nodded as he said, "if you are sure."

Emily smiled as she stood up and moved in front of him. After he stood up and was standing in front of her, she said, "I am. I want to marry you. We can have a big party at home after we tell them. Tonight will just be about the two of us and what we want."

"OK, let's do this." Hotch said as they walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

Emily woke up the next morning curled up against her new husband. As she turned further into him, her head started to throb. Groaning, she buried her head under the pillow.

Alarmed, Aaron wrapped his arm around her before asking. "Em, what's wrong?"

Emily turned her head towards him before whispering, "headache." She readjusted her head on top of the pillow and turned to look at him before she continued, "I probably shouldn't have drank all that champagne after the wine with dinner."

"You needed some water before bed." Hotch responded as he reached over and smoothed her hair as he looked at her concerned.

Emily sighed and nodded before she replied with a small smirk, "I know and I generally do. But there was a handsome man in my bed and I got distracted." She edged closer to him and rested her head on his chest while he wrapped his arm around her.

After a couple of minutes Hotch said, "let me get you some ibuprofen."

As he started to sit up the pain in her head increased. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand up and patted his stomach as she said, "not yet."

Hotch nodded and settled back down on the bed. Pulling her closer to him, he started to rub small circles on her back as he said, "Ok. I'm not going to argue with you about cuddling for a few more minutes."

They laid like that for several minutes in which Hotch began to wonder if she had fallen back to sleep when he heard her say, "Aaron?"

"Hmm?" he quietly responded.

Emily looked over at him as she asked, "earlier, why did you look so worried when you asked what was wrong?"

Hotch sighed before he replied, "when you woke up and the first thing you did was to groan before burying your head under a pillow, well I thought maybe you were regretting last night."

"It's not the first time we've woken up in bed together, Aaron," Emily said distractedly.

Hotch shook his head before softly saying, "not that part."

Emily looked at him confused as she was finding it difficult to understand what he was referring to until her hungover thoughts unscrambled. When she realized what he meant, she suddenly sat up straight and looked at him.

However, before she could say anything, her stomach began to roil. Jumping quickly out of the bed, she raced into the bathroom, just making it before she vomited. Unsure if she was done, Emily sat back on the floor, resting her head against the wall.

As soon as Emily had leaped out of the bed, Hotch was certain what was wrong. His assumption was confirmed a few seconds later when he heard retching coming from the bathroom.

Getting out of bed, he realized he had a bit of a headache too. After finding them on the floor in front of him, Hotch picked up and put on his boxers and undershirt from the previous day. Walking over to the closet, he pulled out the bathrobe that was hanging on the rod.

As he stepped into the bathroom, he saw his wife of less than nine hours shivering as she sat on the floor with her head resting against the wall. He walked over to the sink and wet a washcloth. After mostly wringing it out, he walked over and sat down next to her. Pushing her hair away from her face, he said gently, "hey sweetheart. How's the stomach?" as he placed the washcloth on the back of her neck after he wrapped the robe around her.

Emily groaned before replying, "still hates me but maybe a little less now." as she turns to rest her head on his shoulder.

After sitting there quietly for a few minutes, Hotch asked, "are you ready to get up?"

Emily shook her head before saying, "not yet. I'm not sure if I'm done yet."

"OK. Can I get you anything?" Hotch asked.

Emily didn't say anything for a couple of minutes before nodding as she said, "there should still be a can of Sprite in fridge. I think I'll be OK if I sip on that for a few minutes."

"OK, sweetheart. I'll go grab that for you." Hotch said before standing up and walking out of the bathroom.

**####**

Twenty minutes later, Emily and Hotch were relaxing on the bed while Emily sipped her drink.

When Hotch came back to the bathroom after checking the fridge for the Sprite, he helped Emily standing up and walk over to the sink. After putting some toothpaste on her toothbrush, he had handed it to her. She gratefully took the toothbrush wanting to get the gross taste out of her mouth.

After she finished, they had walked together back out to the bed where he had the Sprite can set up on her bedside table.

As they sat there, Emily turned towards him and waited for him to look back at her before she said, "Aaron, what I was going to say before all that happened." She placed her hand on top of his and held it before continuing, "I don't have regrets about anything that happened last night. I married you because I wanted to. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Hotch smiled back at her and nodded as he pulled her closer to him before he said, "I'm glad to hear it. I love you too." He stopped and sighed before he said, "you made me nervous. While I had been planning to propose for a couple of weeks, I did surprise you with the proposal and then the suggestion of marrying right away."

Emily sighed then said, "yes, I was surprised. But it was a good surprise. I would not have accepted your proposal if I didn't want to. And I certainly wouldn't have gone through with marrying you if I had any doubts."

Hotch cocked his head and asked, "we're good then."

"Absolutely." Emily answered

Hotch paused as he was still uneasy because he could tell something was bothering her before he asked, "then what's worrying you?"

Emily shook her head before looking down at the entwined hands and said quietly, "everyone's reaction."

She paused and sighed before saying, "I can see challenges almost every way we turn when we tell people about us. The team. Strauss. The Bureau. My parents. Haley." Tapping his thumb with one of her fingers as she went through the list.

Hotch nodded as she went through each before sadly noting that she had forgotten the other most important person in his life. He tensed and looked straight ahead as he said, "you forgot Jack."

Emily patted his arm and waited for him to look at her before she gave him a small smile and replied, "no I didn't. He is a sweet adorable three year old. I don't see him as a challenge. I think he is going to take the news better than most of the rest of the people we need to tell."

Hotch smiled at her, relieved at her assessment of Jack's reaction before frowning as he asked, "you don't think the team will be happy for us?"

Emily sighed before she said, "it's not that as much as they won't like the change it will make in the team dynamics." She paused before continuing, "Derek may need some time but I think the rest will be happy for us."

Hotch nodded, agreeing that Derek would be the one who would need the most reassurance when they talked to the team. He also knew how much Emily's friendship with Derek meant to her and why the coming disclosure would make her uneasy.

Before he could say anything, there was a knock at the door. Hotch gave her hand one last squeeze before pushing off the bed to answer the door.

Emily watched him get up. He had only taken a couple of steps before she scrambled off the bed and said worriedly, "no let me get it. You aren't supposed to be here." Given both of their states of undress, there was no way they could play it off as he was there for any other reason than that he had spent the night.

Hotch noticed the look in her eyes and nodded as he clarified, "it's breakfast, Emily." As he reached the door, he looked through the peephole to double check as he continued, "I ordered room service earlier when you were in the bathroom. I thought some food would help make you feel better."

Emily smiled and relaxed as he explained. She did find that food after a night of drinking did make her feel better. As he turned around after taking the cart of food from the person who had brought it to the door, she smiled and said, "thank you Aaron."

**####**

Dave Rossi was on the elevator heading back to his room after having breakfast when he spied on the ticket on the room service cart next to him that had Emily's name and room number. He smirked as he remembered in the early hours of the morning as he was preparing for bed hearing her laugh as she past his room. He had taken a few steps towards the door when he heard a man whispering. When he looked out of peephole, he just saw her door closing.

So now his curiosity was reignited with the presence of the food cart. Typically Emily preferred to go down to the lobby for breakfast at whatever hotel they were staying. He was also interested because the amount of food she had ordered appeared to be for more than one person. While she did routinely eat a full breakfast, it was never this much.

When the elevator stopped at his floor, he held the door for the employee with the cart before slowly and casually walking towards his room. When Emily door opened, he stopped around a corner when he heard a distinctive male voice though he was too far away to hear what was being said.

As he started to walk closer to his room and saw through the crack on the same side of the door as the hinges Emily standing behind the door holding a robe closed with one hand and holding her head with the other. Just before the door closed, he noticed her talking to whoever was in the room was pushing the cart towards her. The door completely shut before he could see who it was.

Dave smirked as he opened his door and walked into his room. As one of the most guarded agents on the team, it was difficult even for him to get a glimpse into Emily's personal life. But this morning he had just gotten one.

But as he picked up his bag, his smirk turned to a frown as he recalled comments the team had made over the last few weeks about her seeming happier and them contemplating the likelihood that she was seeing someone. However they weren't in DC and if she was seeing someone that person wouldn't be here. So had it been something else over the last few weeks? Or was this someone else? Either way he was planning to sit next to her on the jet and see if she would let anything slip. Probably not but it was worth a try.

**####**

An hour later after they had finished breakfast and a long steamy shower together, Hotch and Emily were almost done getting ready to go meet the team for the return trip to DC.

After listening to Emily curse at the buttons on her purple shirt for the third time, Hotch chuckled and walked up in front of her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he waited until she looked up at him before moving his hands down to the buttons as he asked softly, "need some help?" Not waiting for an answer, he started to fasten the buttons while looking at her.

Emily gave a small laugh before smirking as she answered, "you know it's a lot more fun when you are UN-fastening them?"

Hotch smiled as he continued to work on the buttons before saying, "you don't need to tell me. And as much as I would prefer to be unfastening these right now we have a plane to catch." He stopped and sighed as he finished before embracing her and saying softly next to ear, "we will pick this up tonight when we get home."

As Hotch loosened his arms, she stepped back and looked at him before saying, "which home Aaron?"

Hotch nodded as that was a question that they would need to answer soon. However it was not one that they needed to tackle this morning so he said, "we'll need to discuss it, this weekend if we're in town. We can pick one of the two current ones we are in or choose to look for an entirely new place. Why don't we go to your apartment tonight?"

Emily nodded as she said, "sounds good." Glancing past him, she saw the time and realized it was later than she thought. Look back at him, she asked, "when do we need to meet the team to head for the airstrip?"

Hotch sighed, knowing what he was able to say wasn't going to please her but he thought it was the best way to approach the morning. "I'm going to head out now and meet the rest of you on the plane." He immediately noticed her stiff body language and scowl. Looking away from her, his eyes landed on the breakfast tray and he continued, "you may want to have some more coffee before you head down."

Emily said angrily, "why are you going now? And without me?"

Hotch shook his head as he tried to think about how to explain why he wanted to do things this way. He walked up to her and rubs his hands up and down her arms. As he did, he could feel her relax and look up at him.

He stopped moving his hands and had them rest on her arms as he said, "if we are both down in the lobby, someone will figure out that something is different about us. And you know Dave and Derek."

He looked at her knowingly and waited until she reluctantly nodded before continuing, "they are both like a dog with a bone. They won't give up until they have figured out our news. I still want to wait until we can all be in the same room to tell the team together." He paused again before finishing, "we can decide tonight when and how we want to do that." They had already decided that their announcement would need to be made outside the office.

Emily sadly sighed and nodded. She understood where he was coming from and couldn't form an argument against what he said. It was the downside of travelling with profilers.

But it didn't mean she was happy about this first separation of their marriage. "I guess you're right. But it doesn't mean I have to like it. I suppose this also means no cuddling on the jet?"

Hotch smiled back at the smirk that was now on her face as he said, "you would suppose right. I don't like it either sweetheart. I love you. I'll see you on the jet."

"I love you too." Emily said before he kissed her just before he picked up his bag and walked out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

JJ sat at her desk as she was taking a break. She had returned earlier that day on the jet with Hotch and Emily while Dave and Derek had remained behind in Las Vegas to determine what Spencer was planning. None of them had believed his explanation that he was solely staying to spend time with his mom.

As she looked around her office, JJ groaned as she observed the mountain of paperwork sitting in piles around her office. The cynical part of her wondered how much of the same paperwork would still be in her office when she returned from maternity leave in a few months. Or if she would have even more piles of files when she returned.

After working to prepare Jordan to cover her position, she wasn't quite sure how well the other woman was going to handle the work or mesh with the team. But at this point all she could do was orient Jordan as well as she could and leave the rest to Hotch and the team. There wasn't time to come up with a Plan B now.

She sighed as she waited for Jordan to return before processing through anymore of the files that arrived while they were in Las Vegas. Turning back to her desk, she let her mind wander.

A smile came across her face as she thought about the plane ride home from Las Vegas. It wasn't a secret to any of them that Hotch and Emily had formed a close friendship over the last year. But today, being alone with them on the jet, she noticed just how close they had become. Even more interesting, she wasn't sure if they had even noticed.

JJ knew she wasn't a profiler like most of the team but she did consider both Hotch and Emily to be two of her closest friends. And what she observed on the jet today had given her hope that two of her favorite people were finding happiness with each other.

When Hotch had walked back onto the jet after talking with Morgan and Rossi about their staying behind to see if they could find out what had the team's youngest profiler so tied up in knots, JJ had noticed how his eyes had wandered around the cabin of the plane until they rested on Emily. The woman in question had collapsed on the couch as soon as they had boarded the plane. Now 15 minutes later, she was sound asleep facing away from them.

As he looked at her, JJ remembered saying, "she was asleep within three minutes of us getting on the plane."

JJ watched as Hotch quietly nodded before he took a blanket out of the storage compartment and gently draped it over their sleeping colleague. He then cupped her cheek while looking at her. Just as quickly he suddenly seemed to recall where they were and pulled back. JJ averted her eyes when he looked up not wanting to give away that she had witnessed the tender and affectionate gesture not generally associated with their boss.

Hotch took a seat close by and pulled out his paperwork before they even took off though glances his way showed that he was keeping a close watch over her.

At least until she woke up three hours into the flight. After grabbing her bag, she had gone into the jet restroom before stopping in the galley for coffee and snack before coming over and sitting across from JJ.

It was then that Hotch had explained to her about Dave and Derek staying behind with Spencer. As they spoke JJ noticed Emily grew quiet and suddenly looked sad. It was then that Hotch reassured her that everything would work out. That whole interaction had been strange and JJ still wasn't sure what to make of it.

It was then there was a knock on her door and Jordan stuck her head in. JJ smiled at her and gestured for her to take a seat so they could continue reminded by back pain she was having that she was on a deadline to get Jordan up to speed.

**####**

After returning to the hotel once they talked to Hotch at the airport, Dave and Derek decided to wait in Spencer's room for him to return. The sooner they discovered what was bothering him, the better as far as they were concerned.

While they were waiting, Derek filled him in on what he had witnessed and the comments Reid had made over the last few days. After discussing it, both were confident that they had made the right decision in staying. Now all they needed to do was convince Reid of that and hope that he would open up to them.

Unable to do anything until Reid returned, they got comfortable with snack and drinks before turning on the TV. As they were trying to find something to watch, Dave commented on running into Morgan's guest for the night earlier that morning when he had been on his way down breakfast.

Morgan sighed before saying, "I had been trying to avoid any of you running into her."

Dave laughed as he remembered the look of shock on Morgan's face that morning when he had seen Dave standing there.

Then he answered, "even Prentiss did a better job of hiding her guest from us."

Derek put the remote down before saying, "what now? How do you know she had a guest?"

Dave shook his head before explaining hearing her return to her room after midnight. Then he mentioned about the food serve cart and the male voice he heard at the door as well as the brief glance he got confirming that there had definitely been a second person in the room.

Derek laughed before saying, "well that is interesting. Did you see the guy?"

Dave shook his head, "no that's why I said she did a better job hiding him that you had your guest. I even walked out of my room the same time as her and she was alone. So he had either already left..."

"… or he was still in the room." Derek finished the thought.

Dave nodded before saying, "Exactly."

Derek sighed before saying, "you know she'll never tell us."

"Probably not. I was going to sit with her on the plane but that didn't happen."

Their conversation was halted by movement at the door indicating that Reid was back. When he walked into the room, their focus shifted to him.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Hotch and Emily settled on the sofa in Emily's apartment to watch a movie after dinner. The afternoon at the office had been… unusual. JJ and Jordan were holed up in JJ's office going over procedures for most of the afternoon. Garcia had been running a couple of searches for Morgan and Dave before flirting with Kevin online for the rest of the day.

That had left Emily and Hotch the only ones from the team in the bullpen. They had worked in their usual places on paperwork from the case and then consults. They did their best in trying to ignore the presence of the other knowing that if they crossed the professional/personal line in the office now, it would be harder to go back.

During dinner, Hotch had taken a call from Dave updating him on what was happening in Las Vegas. As suspected, Reid had not just stayed to spend time with his mom. It turned out he was committed to investigating a 20 year old cold case. After Rossi relayed Reid's thoughts that his father may have committed the crime and their profile of the killer, Hotch had sighed and told Dave to let them know what information they needed in Las Vegas. He and Emily along with Garcia and JJ would help from Quantico as much as they could.

After the movie finished, Hotch went upstairs to change out of his suit. While changing, he decided to just take his evening shower then instead of waiting until right before bed. He knew that Emily wanted to shower together but tonight he needed some time before talking to Emily about something she said at work today.

He sighed, still annoyed at the comment she made earlier in the day about Will being the 'last viable donor'. While he knew she hadn't meant any harm by the comment, he couldn't help but be upset that it was said by his wife of less than 24 hours.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, Emily turned around and frowned when she saw him.

"You showered." she stated as she looked at his still damp hair.

Hotch nodded before replying, "yes, I decided to go ahead since I was getting changed."

Emily sighed and looked down before saying quietly, "then I'll head up in a minute to shower and get ready for bed. I'm kind of tired." She had noticed that there was tension between the two of them since they had arrived back at her apartment but had no idea of what was causing it.

Hotch could see her confusion and shook his head as he realized she didn't understand why he was upset. Looking over at her, he held out his hand as he said, "before you do that, could you come over here and talk to me?"

Emily nodded and took his hand as she said, "sure" before they both sat back down on the couch together. Looking down at their entwined hands she asked shyly, "what's wrong?"

Hotch sighed before he said quietly, "the comment you made in the office today. The one about Will being the last viable donor."

Emily looked up at him in recognition before she replied, "so you did hear what we were saying." Suddenly she understood the tension that evening. As an alpha male, a comment like that by his wife would have bruised his ego even though it was unintentional.

"Not everything but enough. Why did you say it?" Hotch answered.

Emily sighed before she turned and looked at him while moving her thumb over his, "when JJ brought her in, Jordan started to ask some personal questions. Are you married? Do you have kids too? Etc. Questions that last week, I would have answered honestly and then moved on without a second thought.

I shouldn't have been but this time I was caught off guard for someone to ask me point blank if I was married. And I had to lie through my teeth. And you know how much I hate lying Aaron.

It just felt so wrong to say I wasn't the day after we got married. Like I was disrespecting our marriage. Even without our agreement about telling the team, there was no way I was going to say I was married, especially in the middle of the bullpen and have her be the first person to know. Well her and JJ.

I knew that there was no way Jordan could know, it felt like she did. I felt like it was obvious that I was lying and that our secret would be out right then and there. So I did what I do in tense situations - I made a joke. Granted apparently a bad and thoughtless one. To divert attention back to JJ and her swollen feet. See another bad joke."

Emily paused and looked down before making eye contact with him again and saying with tears in her eyes, "I'm so sorry if I hurt you. It was not my intention at all."

Hotch had nodded as she spoke, learning how the situation had arisen. He didn't want Jordan to be the first one to know either. And he did know how much Emily hated lying and how hard it must have been for her to deny their marriage. He could see that she regretted it but they needed to discuss it as the team dynamic would change as soon as the rest of the team was back and they told all of them that they were married.

He reached up and smoothed her hair with his other hand as he said, "I know it wasn't your intention. But part of the change in the team dynamics is that we are both going to need to be careful what we say in the office. There will be greater scrutiny on us once our news comes out."

As he spoke he had felt Emily nodding before she replied, "I understand. I'll try to be more mindful in the future."

As they looked at each other, he smiled back at her and answered, "thanks sweetheart, that's all I ask. I know it isn't fair, particularly for you being in the bullpen. If it ever gets to be too much, let me know. I know Derek can push things sometimes."

Emily chuckled and rolled her eyes as she answered, "that he can. Thanks for coming and talking to me about it. I don't like it when you are angry with me and I don't understand why."

Hotch sighed as he said, "I'm trying to learn from past mistakes. And I don't want to be angry with you. I knew that it wasn't intentional but it was something we needed to address sooner rather than later."

Emily quietly rested her head against his chest as she looked at the hands. After sitting like that for a few minutes, Emily patted his chest as she sat up. She knew if she didn't move soon, she would fall asleep and she still wanted to shower. Looking back at him, she said as she stood up, "now that we have that taken care of that. I'm going to go shower and get ready for bed. Can you finish up down here?"

Hotch nodded as he said, "sure. I won't be long." He watched as she slowly climbed the stairs not missing that her shoulders were sagging more that he would like. He turned and quickly went through turning lights off and doing the last checks for the night.

**####**

Emily yawned as she pulled pajamas out of her dresser drawer. Just as she was turning to head into the bathroom, Hotch walked into the bedroom and over to her. She stopped and said as she looked at him, "Aaron, you surprised me."

He smiled as he reached her before he slowly started to unbutton her shirt. As he looked at her he continued as he said, "well, I said this morning that I would help unfasten the buttons on your shirt tonight. You know, since there are so many of them."

Emily laughed before she replied, "that would be appreciated. I'm really tired and just want to go to bed." She relaxed at the relief that the earlier tension between them was now gone. She closed her eyes as he made his way down her shirt, opening her eyes when he opened it and slowly pushed it over her shoulders.

As she looked back at him, she could see the concern as he said, "should I just set the alarm so you can shower in the morning?"

Emily shook her head as she answered "no, I need to take one now. I won't have time if we get called in." She hated getting called in during the night and having to rush through a shower. She much preferring to take one before bed.

Now they also had the added component that if they were called in, Hotch would need to take a quick shower if for no other reason than to tame his hair. And somehow she didn't think them trying to shower quickly together would work out that way. They would either be in each others way or get distracted.

**####**

Hotch heard the bathroom door open as he was preparing for bed to see Emily walking into the bedroom with her hair still damp and already in her pajamas. He stopped and commented, "that was quick."

Emily rolled her eyes at her husband's observation before she said, "like I said. I'm tired and want to go to bed." She walked over to the bed, pulled back the covers and climbed into it.

"Then let's go to bed." Hotch answered and he climbed in on the other side of the bed. He moved towards her only to get a glare as she said, "no funny business tonight, mister. Sleep only."

Hotch nodded as he answered, "I understand. Is cuddling allowed?" as he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her towards him.

Emily relaxed into him, resting her head on his chest and closing her eyes as she responded sleepily, "cuddling is always allowed. Goodnight Aaron."

"Goodnight Emily." Hotch answered and he closed his eyes as well.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

Emily woke up with a start before taking in the familiar surroundings. The sun shone in through the window creating a rainbow on the wall across from the bed while also illuminating her bedroom.

Not quite ready to get up, Emily cuddled up against her husband. Oh, how she loved how that sounded. For so long she had believed that no one would ever have that place in her life. But now the wonderful man lying beneath her who she had grown to love over the last few months had that place in her life.

As she tucked her head under his chin, she could feel his arm reflectively tighten around her waist. After their last round of lovemaking in the early morning hours, Aaron had flipped them not breaking their connection so she was lying directly on top of him. Relaxing into him, Emily could feel him still semi erect inside of her.

Five minutes later, Emily realized that she was not going to be able to go back to sleep. Letting her mind wander, she contemplated what the next step for them was going to be.

Their plan of telling the team when they got back to DC had been thwarted by Reid, Morgan and Rossi stay in Vegas to investigate the cold murder case that had Reid all worked up.

Before the three of them arrived back, JJ had gone into labor and given birth to her precious baby boy. The two occasions at the hospital after Henry was born when the whole team was in the same room, Hotch and Emily didn't have the heart to take any attention away from Will and JJ by announcing their news. The timing had just felt wrong. They could wait a bit longer.

So now that the weekend had come around, Emily was hoping that work would not interrupt them so her and Hotch could spend time discussing how they planned to move forward.

Hotch had requested and it was granted that the team be taken off rotation for the next few days. The whole team needed a break after the Rothchild case with it having been the second case in a row where kidnapped children were involved. Even with being off rotation they all knew there was a possibility of being called in if an urgent or time sensitive case came up.

The first item on their weekend decision agenda was where they were going to call home. With the suddenness of their marriage, they both still had their own apartments. They needed to make a decision about which one they would keep.

To Emily, it made the most sense for her to give up her apartment. It was further from work than Hotch's place. While hers was larger, it was divided between 2 floors. This unfortunate reality had vexed her on more than once when she had returned home from a case injured or just completely exhausted only to find a long staircase between her and her bed. On more than one occasion, she had decided to sleep on the couch downstairs instead. That was somewhat acceptable while living by herself but hardly conducive to a successful marriage.

Then there was work…

Before she could delve too far into her thoughts on that topic, she heard from beneath her in a sleepy voice, "Em, you are thinking way too hard for this early on a Saturday morning. What is going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

Turning her head so she could see his face, she replied, "how long have you been awake?"

Hotch opened his eyes and briefly glanced at her before closing them as he continued to move his hand up and down her back. Opening his eyes again he answered as he looked at her, "since you shuddered when you woke up since you are lying on top of me."

Emily's eyes widened at his answer before smirking when she responded, "that long hmm? What have you been thinking about?"

Hotch sighed as he noticed that she had turned his question back onto him. He would need to push the subject but not now. For now he would follow her lead.

Reaching over he kissed her forehead before answering, "how nice it is to wake up with my wife in my arms. How I hope that we don't get a call from work. If I can convince you for another round."

"Another round you say." Emily says as she contracts the muscles around him and felt him grow and harden inside her. She chuckled as Aaron groaned under her.

"Yes, you little minx. What do you say?" Hotch said as he flipped them so she was once again underneath him.

"What are you waiting for?" Emily answered before her lips found his.

**####**

A couple of hours and rounds later including a long shower together, Aaron and Emily sat in the kitchen of her apartment eating a late breakfast.

Hotch looked over at his wife and decided to circle back to the question he had posed earlier as he said, "so Em, you never answered my question earlier. What were you thinking about so hard that early in the morning?"

Emily sighed and shook her head before looking at him before responding, "mostly logistics. Where we would call home. Hoping work doesn't interrupt our weekend. Work in general."

Hotch raised his eyebrow as he observed her since these were the topics that they had agreed need to be discussed this weekend. When she didn't continued, he asked, "any conclusions?"

Emily looked back at him and nodded before looking around her apartment as she said, "well, as much as I love this place, I think I should give up this apartment.

Realistically, it makes the most sense. It further than your place from the office. My lease is up in six weeks so it won't cost anything. I will just give notice that I'm not going to renew. You're only six months into yours so I'm sure there is an early cancellation clause that will cost money or we need to find someone to sublet it."

Hotch's eyes widened as he expected where they lived to be more of a sticking point. He agreed with all of the points she just made however he also knew she loved this apartment. Looking over at her, he asked, "are you sure? You have lived here for 2 years now."

Emily nodded as she answered, "I know. There are definitely a lot of things that I love about this place. Most of all the view. But there are also a few reasons I wouldn't mind moving on."

"What are those reasons?" Hotch asked as he hadn't heard her ever mention anything she didn't like about the apartment before.

Emily chuckled when she looked over at him as she answered, "the commute sucks. The stairs to the bedrooms are a challenge when I'm exhausted and/or injured. Also the stairs would worry me when Jack is here. Besides he has a great room we set up for him at your apartment."

Hotch nodded at each of her points and smiled at her consideration about what would be best for his son. He too had worried about the stairs with his active three year old.

With only having so much visitation he hadn't been looking forward to uprooting from the apartment and room Jack had come to know. He answered, "if you are sure, we will plan on that. Thanks Em. Now we need to make time to pack and move."

Emily sighed as she looked around the apartment wondering what she had just added to her already full plate. However if there was something she learned well from her childhood, it was packing and moving.

She looked at him before answering, "I'll have six weeks but we should plan on doing the actual move before that because between work and the holidays, time will go a lot quicker than expected.

I also want us to inventory what we each have so we only move from here what we need or I want to keep. Then we can pack donations up from both places before we do the big move. It will just be less stuff to manage at your apartment."

Hotch held onto her as he said, "Ok, we have that decided. And it will be _our_ apartment." He paused before pulling back to look at her before he continued, "what about work?"

He watched as she stepped back with a grimace on her face before plopping down on one end of the couch. She looked up at him as she said dejectedly, "we are surrounded by minefields there."

Hotch walked over and sat on the other end of the couch looking at her before explaining, "I know it's not going to be easy. Dave may be able to help smooth the process when we tell the Bureau in a few months."

Emily sighed and nodded before agreeing, "true. But we need to tell the team first. I stand by our decision to not say anything to take attention away from JJ and Will but it's hard. I want to tell them."

"So do I. Why don't we invite everyone over in two or three weeks and we can tell them then? JJ will probably feel up to an outing by then." Hotch answered as what they thought had been a good plan in Las Vegas had fallen apart just hours later when Morgan and Rossi stayed in Vegas with Reid.

"Sounds good. I just don't want to keep us a secret from them, they are our friends." Emily answered though Hotch noticed that the worry did not completely leave her face.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

Hotch is sitting alone in the workroom at the Atlanta police station reviewing the details of the case. Dave and Morgan were reviewing the assignments for that night while Reid was assisting with the tipline. Emily and Jordan were out shopping for a club outfit for Emily for that night.

Just an hour earlier, Emily had reluctantly agreed to bait Viper after members of the team had all suggested to her as that being the best way of getting information from him. Shortly afterward, she had left to go shopping with Jordan happily in tow.

Hotch was conflicted about how he now felt. They had both agreed that they needed to keep a strict professional/personal boundary though this part was going to be the hardest for him.

As Unit Chief and a profiler, he agreed with the others that Viper's previous reaction to Emily made her the best person on the team to gain insight from him on the mindset of their UNSUB. However, as her husband, he hated that he had just stood there and watched her discomfort and then reluctant acceptance of the assignment to flirt with another man.

He was so focused on his thoughts that he missed Dave entering the room.

"You're thinking too loud, Aaron. What's wrong?" Dave said while carefully observing the younger man. Rossi had noticed Hotch's change in demeanor after delivering the profile.

Hotch sighed, not surprised by the question as he had been staring at the board for several minutes. Turning to Dave he said, "nothing. Just thinking about tonight."

"Emily?" Dave asked, taking a guess, an educated guess based on his observations during the case.

Hotch looked up him and nodded before asked nervously, "Dave, when have you ever known her to hesitate about an assignment? Especially one where we can make a major breakthrough about the thought processes of an UNSUB."

Dave sighed and nodded also concerned about the uncharacteristic reaction earlier from their colleague, "never. What specifically is your concern?"

Hotch looked over at him and said worriedly, "it's too soon after Colorado. What if she isn't ready, Dave?"

"She isn't Elle, Hotch." Morgan chimed in having just walked into the room and overheard the end of their conversation.

Hotch looked over at him and responded exasperatedly, "I know that. I'm just concerned that it's too soon from the way she reacted."

Dave looked between the two of them before asking, "who's Elle?"

Hotch shook his head as Morgan replied, "Elle Greenaway. She was on the team for a year and a half before Emily. She was shot in her house during the Fisher King case and almost died. She was out for four months but struggled after she came back.

A couple of months later, we had a case where she was the only one who fit the victimology to go undercover. She said she was OK going but ended freezing and then broke cover and confronted the suspect. We knew it was him but the locals had to release him due to lack of evidence. Later that night, she confronted him in the parking lot outside his apartment and he ended up dead."

Hotch continued, "the locals and FBI both dismissed it as self-defense but…"

Dave interrupted as he noted where Hotch was going with his concern, "...you had your doubts."

Hotch nodded before responding, "yes, Gideon and I both did but nothing concrete. She blew off the sessions with the Bureau psychologist that I ordered and took off. When I caught up with her, she continued to deny it. She resigned the next day."

Dave sighed as he was just learning some of the more recent history of the team. He could see where Hotch was drawing parallels however there were even more differences from what Hotch and Morgan had just said that he felt he needed to point out, "the situations sound very different as do Elle and Emily's behavior in the months following. If anything, Emily has seemed very happy in the last few months. She took time off willingly, did her sessions with the shrink, her and Reid have talked through what happened both in and out of their joint psych sessions. I haven't seen any indication of unresolved trauma."

Hotch looked down nodding at each of Dave's points. He internally chuckled at Dave's point about her willingly taking time off as Dave hadn't been there for that extended argument. However once they had compromised she had embraced the time off.

Looking up and sighing before he answered, "you're right. I haven't questioned her being back in the field before but her reaction today concerns me." He was suddenly worried about his wife. He didn't want to see her hurt. But most of all he didn't want this case or any case for that matter to adversely affect all that he and Emily were trying to build in their life together.

Morgan chimed in noticing that Hotch still didn't seem convinced by what Dave said, "Hotch, the creep is a sleaze that keep undressing her with his eyes last time she saw him. Maybe it's just a general feeling of not wanting to see him again, particularly in a social situation."

Hotch nodded, though he was still uneasy as he answered, "you are probably right."

Dave could see that Hotch still was hesitant so he offered, "Aaron, when Emily and Jordan come back go talk to her. Privately. Make sure she is really OK with going tonight. If she's not, we'll figure something else out.

If it would be helpful, I can go and be in the bar while she talks to him. I wasn't with the three of you when you talked to him so he won't know I'm with her. But I'd be nearby and if I noticed her getting overwhelmed, I'll pull her out."

Hotch let out the breath he had been holding and nodded at the suggestion before answering, "thanks Dave. That could work. I'll talk to her and let you know." before looking at his watch and excusing himself before walking out of the room.

From the interaction and Hotch's reaction, he knew there was more going on that what had been described. He walked over until he was standing next to Morgan and quietly asked, "what was he not saying?"

Morgan sighed and shook his head as he said, "Elle made it personal, especially at the end. After she found out that the locals released the guy, she started yelling at Hotch in the middle of the bullpen. Blaming him for putting her undercover and the guy being released. Then she brought up it was his fault that she was shot months earlier because he had been the one to send her home that night. "

"But neither of those factors were his fault." Dave answered as he processed the new information with Hotch's concerns of Emily's reaction to the assignment.

Morgan nodded and put up his hands as he answered, "I know. But he also blamed himself for not being more specific with Anderson about staying with Elle the night she got shot. He and Gideon took turns sitting with her at the hospital until she got out of the ICU. Hotch went over and personally cleaned the blood up from her apartment.

Elle also said some stuff to him in his office when she resigned but I don't know exactly what it was. He was going through a rough patch with Haley around that time which didn't help."

Dave sighed suddenly wondering if there was another option to sending Emily but knowing that it was the best way to make headway in this case, "let hope tonight goes smoothly. I want to catch this guy."

"Me too, Rossi. Me too." Morgan said as he walked away and out of the room.

**####**

Dave watched as Hotch walked across the precinct looking lighter than he had when they spoke earlier. Emily and Jordan had arrived back at the station almost an hour earlier and Hotch had disappeared after that.

As he walked back into the conference room, Dave looked up and asked, "is everything OK Aaron?" while closely observing him.

He slowly nodded and answered more relaxed, "yes, everything is fine. Emily wants take Jordan with her. She is planning to get information from Viper by her and Jordan playing off each other."

Dave thought about it before nodding as he answered, "based on his profile, that could work. He'll see the two of them as a challenge and instinctively slip into his old pattern and try to put them in competition with each other."

Hotch nodded as he responded, "that is what Emily is hoping. The plan is for them to seemingly go along with his games for a while and then challenge him. Once they do that, it will give them the best chance to press him for the details we need. To prove them wrong, he may just slip and reveal what so far he has been refusing to divulge.

Dave didn't miss that Hotch had just unconsciously called her 'Emily' which he rarely did that in the field, only in the office. It indicated just how worried Hotch was and all Dave was hoping for was that everything would go off without a hitch tonight and they would get the information that they needed.

Dave nodded as he stated, "so, we stay here. Morgan is dragging Reid away from the tip line so they can leave. Last I heard they were leaving in five minutes."

Hotch nodded as he answered, "Emily and Jordan should be ready in about ten."

**####**

Hotch and Emily slowly walked into their apartment before sitting down on the couch next to each other. After catching the UNSUB, they had completed what they needed to for the locals in terms of paperwork before flying back. Given the late hour they arrived he had sent everyone home saying they could complete reports in the morning.

As he held her he asked, "how do you feel about the interview with Viper at the club." having not been able to debrief before and wouldn't see her or Jordan's reports until the next day.

Emily laughed before answering, "what a slimeball. He had no problem dishing it out but caved as soon as Jordan and I pushed him. If I never see him again, it will be too soon."

"Did you feel alright going?" Hotch asked quietly. As much as it seemed that she was OK now, if there were any issues about her being sent or his role in it, he wanted them to talk it out now. As with the 'last viable donor' comment a couple of weeks earlier, given their current situation, it was imperative that they address it immediately so they could work past it together instead of letting it fester.

Emily sighed and looked down as she answered, "not at first. I felt like all of you ambushed me with the suggestion."

She paused as she felt him stiffen beside her. She turned and took in the worried look on his face. A similar look to the one he had when he first arrived in the locker room. She shook her head and continued, "but I should have seen it too so that is on me. I felt better once I started to think it through and decided that if Jordan could help, we could get the information I wanted from him. Why?"

Hotch looked at her as he responded, "it just hasn't been that long since Colorado. I was worried that you weren't ready. That is why I came down to the locker room."

A light went off for Emily about his unusually cautious behavior. Looking at him, she cupped his cheek and said softly, "thanks but I'm OK Aaron. I feel better about going forward now that I was successful this time." She paused before a smirk crossed her face before pivoting the conversation, "so you just came down to the locker room to talk then? Not to get a look at the dress."

He laughed at her last comment as he saw the smirk on her face before answering, "well if I'm being honest, I was hoping to see what was UNDER the dress but that would have been hard to explain if anyone came in. So are you planning to wear that dress again?"

Emily nodded having packed the dress into her go bag. He had said that she could fill out an expense report for it before she left to go shopping however it was a cute little black dress that she was open to wearing again so she was just going to keep it, particularly now that she knew her husband liked it as well. "I can if you'd like. I take it you like it."

"Very much. Nice choice. Are you ready to head to bed, Mrs Hotchner?" Hotch answered as he stood up and held a hand out to her.

"I think I could be persuaded, Mr Hotchner." Emily said as she took his hand then stood right in front of him

Hotch pulled her closer for a kiss. Once they both pulled back, he whispered, "I've missed you."

Emily nodded and asked, "can we cuddle before we go to sleep?"

Hotch looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he asked, "only cuddle?"

Emily smirked before asking, "what else did you have in mind?"

Hotch picked her up and carried her into their room. He lowered her to the floor before taking off her blouse and pants. Then he picked her up again and lowered her onto the bed before stripping off his own clothes down to his boxers before crawling into the bed and hovering over her. He smiled at her and said, "I think it would be better if I showed you."

Emily smiled up at him before leaning up and saying, "I can't wait." before meeting his lips with hers and she wrapped her arms around his back.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

Emily collapsed into the couch in Hotch's, err their apartment. Hotch had just left to take Jack back to Haley's house after spending two days with them. And a busy two days it had been.

On Friday evening they watch Jack's favorite movie Shrek after a dinner of grilled cheese and tomato soup. He had started to doze off towards the end so they paused the movie for the night so he could brush his teeth and change into his TMNT pajamas. After getting him settled into his Spongebob themed room that she and Hotch had decorated months earlier with Jack's input, Hotch and Emily had also gone to bed after a long week at the BAU and the promise of an early wake up call by the resident three year old.

On Saturday after a breakfast of French toast, eggs, coffee and juice, the three of them had gone to the park on an unseasonably warm day. After lunch and Jack's nap, they played both CandyLand and Chutes and Ladder several times with Jack somehow winning most of the time. Before any of them knew it, it was dinner time and they all enjoyed the chili that Emily had started during Jack's nap along with homemade cornbread. After dinner, they finished Shrek before putting Jack to bed.

On Sunday, they played with Legos after a breakfast of pancakes, coffee and juice. After lunch and a nap, Hotch had helped Jack pack his backpack, remembering to make sure his teddy was in it so he could return Jack to Haley at the agreed time.

After resting for a few minutes, Emily got up and headed towards the kitchen and pulled the pot with the chili out of the refrigerator. Dividing the remaining chili into two serving sections, she placed the smaller containers in the freezer so that they could reheat it on nights after work when neither of them wanted to cook. Turning back to the counter, Emily put all of the dishes on the counter into the dishwasher before hand washing the larger pots. Once that was done, she took the chicken out she has placed in the refrigerator to thaw. She placed the pieces in a dish before adding a marinade. Then she covered the dish and placed it back into the refrigerator.

As she was cleaning the counters, the key started to juggle in the lock followed quickly by Hotch walking into the kitchen.

"Everything go OK." Emily asked knowing that his interactions with Haley could be challenging at times.

Hotch nodded as he answered, "yes. Jack told Haley about all the fun we had. Work permitting, I'll pick him up Friday at six."

As exhausting as having a small child in their small apartment was, they both enjoyed having Jack with them. Emily smiled and nodded as she answered, "good. I think we should try to do some Christmas crafts next weekend. Maybe some tree ornaments."

Hotch smiled at the suggestion as Jack liked to make things before he answered, "sounds like a plan but I should warn you to limit the tape that is out. He tends to go overboard with it."

Emily laughed, "I remember. Do you remember your birthday gift?"

"How could I forget! There must have been two rolls of tape on it." Hotch answered as he remembered the birthday present he received a couple of months earlier.

"Speaking of gifts…" Emily started before Hotch interrupted as he moved closer to her.

"...yes." Hotch answered as he tried to distract her with kissed up the side of her neck.

Before she could get caught up in what he was starting Emily stepped back and looked at him before saying, "we need to save time in the schedule next weekend for you to take Jack shopping for a gift for Haley. I know Christmas is still a few weeks away but this way he has it even if work interferes with visits."

Hotch groaned as thoughts of his ex-wife had thrown a proverbial bucket of cold water on what he had been attempting to start with his current wife. He sighed before answering, "you're right. But it's going to be hard to go shopping for her after everything."

Emily cupped his cheek before giving him a peck on the cheek. Resting their foreheads together, she said softly, "don't do it for her. Do it for Jack. No matter what happened between the two of you, she is still his mother. When he wakes up on Christmas morning, he will have a gift to give his mother that he picked out. And he will remember that you took him shopping to buy it. Same with her birthday and Mothers' Day. As he gets older, he'll come to respect you more that you are able to put your differences aside and not put him in the middle of the issues that destroyed your marriage."

Hotch nodded as she explained why she had made the suggestion. "You're right. How did you get so smart?" he asked.

Emily sighed before stating sadly, "experience. After my parents separated, they would each staff out my gift to the other. I really didn't have anyone to take me to pick gifts out until I was a teenager. I would have loved for each of them to put their differences aside so that I could pick out a gift for each of my parents that was truly from me."

Hotch nodded as she explained not wanting Jack to have the same experience. As hard as he would find it, he knew that it was something that he needed to do for his son. Leaning in to hug her, he whispered, "I'm sorry you went through that. I'll take him next weekend. Thanks, sweetheart."

As she relaxed into the hug, Emily turned her head and started to kiss up his neck as he had been during to her earlier. Now that that conversation was over, she didn't see any reason for them not to resume what he had started earlier. She stopped when she was next to his ear and said, "Well if you really want to thank me…"

"...Yes. What do you want me to do?" Hotch answered as he turned to look at her.

Emily patted his chest as she stepped back. Smiling she responded, "you could take the sheets off your son's bed so I can wash them this afternoon."

Hotch huffed before he replied, "tease. OK, let me go do that now." before turning to go towards Jack's room.

Emily laughed at his response before adding, "I'm not a tease. I was also going to suggest we take a nap after I get the laundry started. Dinner is marinating and the dishes are done."

Hotch stopped and looked at her with a raised eyebrow as he asked, "are we going to sleep?"

Emily smiled as she shrugged before she answered, "not unless you want to." then walked past him and into the laundry room. Before he could walk away, the shirt she had been wearing came flying through the door from the laundry room and landed at his feet.

He leaned over and picked it up before quickly walking to Jack's room to get the sheets that she had requested so they could enjoy the rest of the afternoon together.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

Hotch walk into his apartment after work to hear banging in the bedroom. After putting down his briefcase and keys on the table, he walked towards the source of the noise to hear his wife mumbling to herself. As he walked down the hall he heard another bang followed by cursing.

As he reached the room, he could see Emily leaning over a box wearing a tank top and athletic shorts. He wondered what had upset her in the couple of hours since he had last seen her at the BAU.

In the last week since the team had returned from Phoenix everyone working through their feelings about the case. They like all law enforcement took UNSUBs that targeted first responders personally.

Morgan had stayed a couple of extra days to attend the funeral of one of the police officers only arriving back at the BAU a couple days earlier. In the office, Garcia, Reid and Rossi had all been processing the case in their own ways even after they completed their reports. He wasn't sure how Jordan was handling it as she had mostly been working in JJ's office since they returned.

And then there was Emily. As with the rest of them, she had been invested in finding the UNSUB who was ambushing police officers while they were performing their duty. As his final push to redirect the UNSUB, Hotch had stated in a press conference that he was taking over the case.

Agent Prentiss had understood the rationale and planned with the rest of the team how to catch the UNSUB as well as was one of the four who surrounded the UNSUB when he did try to approach Hotch.

However his wife Emily had been forced to hide how terrified she was from that press conference until they had the UNSUB in custody. They were both still working to navigate the fallout from the experience.

"What did that box do to you Em?" Hotch said as he walked into the room with several boxes littering the floor looking at her concerned.

Emily brushed her hair out of her face as she stood up surprised at his presence before saying, "Aaron, you're home. There is dinner plate for you in the oven." She paused before shaking her head before mumbling, "it's not the box." as she turned to another box and started to go through the contents.

Hotch shook his head as he walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. The action caused her to stop what she was doing to turn and look back at him. When she did, he stated, "I'll eat in a few minutes. What's wrong? What has you so upset? Did something happen at your apartment?"

Emily shook her head and sat on the end of the bed as she explained, "no, I have almost everything packed there. We should be able to move everything else that is coming here this weekend after Jack goes back to Haley's. There is a separate pile of boxes to donate that will be picked up on Monday. The company who I rented the furniture from will come to pick it up on Tuesday. The maid service will do a deep cleaning on Thursday. I should be able to hand the keys in next Friday if everything goes as planned."

To Hotch it sounded like everything was ahead of schedule so he was confused about why she was so perturbed. Kneeling down in front of her he placed his hands on top of hers before carefully asking, "so then what is wrong?"

Emily sighed and Hotch observed her eyes become glassy before she quietly answered, "Jordan." before she squeezed his hand back.

Standing up and starting to pace in the room as she started venting, "I don't know what her problem is or what I did to her. She made snide comments a couple of times again today. It's just getting to me. It just seems some days that she is waiting for me to do or say something that she can criticize. Every time it happens, I just start to feel insecure again. Then that pisses me off more because I'm an FBI agent and not in high school anymore."

Hotch nodded as she spoke having heard overheard some of the comments as well as having Reid and Garcia both mention to him about them.

He stood and walked over to her, stopping her pacing. When he lifted her chin with his finger, he could see the insecurity in her eyes. Over her time with the team he had seen it less and less. It was frustrating that today it was caused by a colleague though thankfully a temporary one.

Given the circumstances each time a comment was made there was little he could officially do about it. Given the continuing issues since Jordan had started if he could think of a way for the team to work without her, he would have done it.

But now that they were home, he was going to do his best to reassure his wife, "and a damn good FBI agent. I'm sorry Em. What did she say today that was different and got you so upset?" as he pulled her into a hug.

As she rested her head on his chest, she quietly answered, "it's not so much what she said. It just hit me after the last time how much I miss JJ. I know she is where she should be and Henry needs her right now. I just miss her."

As he held her close to him and smoothed her hair Hotch replied, "why don't you call JJ and see if she is up for a visit next week? We are almost done moving. Take their Christmas gifts and dinner over."

Emily stepped back to look at him with a smile now on her face as she answered, "yeah, that sounds good." before the smile disappeared and she sat back down on the bed.

Not knowing what just happened, Hotch sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he asked, "what else is bothering you?"

Emily sighed and leaned into him, resting her head on his chest as she replied softly, "we can't tell the team. About us. At least not until Jordan is gone."

It was a realization she had had in the car on the way back to their apartment with the boxes. And that conclusion had upset her more than Jordan's comments. It meant not telling their friends for another couple of months. After the case in Phoenix, she so much wanted the others to know so they understood why what happened there had her so on edge and well as how she was needing to process it since their return.

As much as he didn't want to, Hotch had to agree. After kissing her forehead, he rested his head on top of hers as he said, "I agree. We have to wait until her rotation is done. I don't trust her."

"Yeah, even with none of them saying anything, she would know something is up. That would just put more scrutiny on the team. It would come out at that point." Emily answered,

They stayed, relaxing into each other for several minutes until Hotch stated, "then we'll wait. But talk to JJ and see if she is up for a visit. It will be good for both of you. Speaking of good for you, why don't you leave the boxes for now and take a bath."

Emily groaned as she sat up and looked at him before looking over at all of the boxes that were littering their bedroom, "I just want to get this stuff unpacked Aaron. I hate having boxes everywhere." before standing up and taking a couple of steps towards the box she was working on when he first walked into the room.

Before she could go any further, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back so her back was flushed against his front before he said, "Em, just leave it for now. Go take a few minutes for yourself. I'll go eat and change. Then I'll help you with these boxes. Once we get these three over here unpacked and the items put away, we're going to have an early night."

She sighed before nodding as she answered, "you make it sound so easy. An early night sounds wonderful right now. I am really tired. And cranky."

Hotch chuckled as she turned around before saying, "you look tired. I won't comment on the cranky part. It will be easier with both of us unpacking. Even with it being your things, it's not fair that you do all the work. I should be helping you with all of this." before he walked into the bathroom to start the water in the tub as Emily pulled out pajamas.

**####**

Early one morning the next week, Derek Morgan was walking through the parking garage towards the BAU. Before he reached the stairs, he saw movement off to his left side along with a familiar laugh. He stopped and looked over in the direction of where he heard the laugh.

Prentiss.

He knew it. He'd recognize her laugh anywhere.

As he looked closer, Morgan noticed that she was talking to a guy in a suit. He was facing the other way so his face wasn't visible from where Derek was standing. Curious, he started to walk toward them.

After he had walked a couple of car lengths, the man turned and Derek immediately saw that it was Hotch. 'I should have known' Derek mumbled to himself.

It wasn't a secret among the team that Hotch and Emily had slowly formed a friendship over the last year. She had been able to reach him after his separation from Haley in a way that none of the rest of them had been able to, including Dave. In the field, they frequently partnered up together and worked extremely well together when they did.

As he slowly walked up close to them, he quipped, "is this where we are doing case review today?"

Hotch looked up at him surprised having not heard him approach before nodding as he said, "Morgan."

When she heard his voice, Emily had turned away from what she was saying to Hotch and greeted him excitedly with a smile, "morning Derek. We were just moving some things to my car before heading inside. I'm going to visit JJ tomorrow. I'm taking a few things to her."

Derek smiled at her ramblings knowing that Emily had been missing their blonde colleague. As he thought about what she said, he asked, "could you take my gifts for them too?"

Emily nodded and answered, "of course. Just bring them in tomorrow. I'm going to make an announcement when we gathered for case review this morning." before walking to the side of her car and taking her bags and purse out before walking back over to Hotch and Morgan.

Derek smiled and nodded as he answered, "great thanks. I want to see the little guy again but I'm not sure I'll make it over there before Christmas. Maybe after I come back from Chicago. How is she doing?"

Emily smiled as she remembered the phone conversation she had with JJ a few days earlier, "tired but happy. She said the BAU was great preparation for life with a newborn. He's not on a schedule yet so she is just as likely to be awake at 3AM as 3PM..." she paused as they all heard someone in heels walk up behind them.

They all turned to find Jordan Todd standing there carrying her bags. She stopped at looked at the three profilers before saying, "good morning everyone. Is this a private meeting?" as she carefully assessed the group.

The levity in the group was already gone when Hotch responded, "Agent Todd. Not at all."

Emily nodded and said, "good morning, Jordan."

Morgan cleared his throat before answering, "Jordan. Nope. We just met up as we arrived. If you give us a minute, we can walk in together."

With that they all picked up their bags as Emily locked up her car before they all walked together towards the building.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

The team silently travelled home from California after their latest case. The tragedy they had found wasn't completely visible when they had taken the case just days earlier.

Hotch and Emily hadn't been partnered together when the final takedown happened earlier today. Emily had been with Reid and Morgan as the UNSUB took them and the LEOs on a high speed chase as he imagined his family was also in the car. They later were able to arrest him after he crashed the car.

Meanwhile Hotch had been with Rossi and Jordan at the carnage of the UNSUB's house where he had killed his wife and two daughters days earlier. When they arrived back at the BAU they would discover that the medical examiner had determined that the deaths of the three had occurred the day before the case even came to the team.

When the jet finally arrived back Quantico, the team's somber mood remained as they made their way up to the BAU. The circumstances of the case did not preclude the need to complete their reports. If anything all of them just want to complete them as soon as possible so they could all put this case behind them.

As they left the elevator, Hotch could see the sadness and fatigue on Emily's face. As soon as they were done their reports, he was planning on leaving for the night. He wanted to go home and have a quiet evening where they could comfort each other in a way they hadn't been able to while on the case.

His attention was diverted enough on her that he was surprised when Reid yelled about someone being in the conference room. It hadn't taken long to discover that someone was actually two people.

JJ and baby Henry.

As much as Hotch had hoped that she would take a break from BAU to enjoy her time at home with Henry, he had to admit that he was glad to see her as long as she was only visiting. He would never say it out loud to anyone except perhaps his wife but he missed JJ's calming presence in the field particularly after Jordan's meltdowns during this case.

If there was ever a time that this visit was needed it was today. As he looked on, he could see that he wasn't the only one excited to see them. The gloominess that had been coming off of all of them when they had walked through the door into the bullpen was now replaced with laughter. And little by little the pieces of them that had broken during the case were healing.

The team except for Jordan was gathered around JJ. Then Morgan had quickly asked to hold the baby. According to Emily after her visit the previous week, only she and Garcia had been to see JJ since she and Henry had gone home from the hospital.

As Hotch smiled at the team, JJ had come over and stood next to him. He tried to express through a brief hug how grateful he was for the visit while at the same time reminding her she still had leave left.

As the only parents on the team they watched together as Morgan fed Henry with Garcia watched him closely. Then there was Spencer's excitement as his godson burped for him. That was followed by the team's laughter and Rossi's surprise as Henry spit up on him. After that Dave had grumbled as he walked out of the room to go change his shirt.

But none of that replaced what Hotch felt when he saw his wife holding the infant as she soothed him. It wasn't the first time she had held Henry. She had a couple of times in the hospital. Then she mentioned that she had when she had visited last week. But for whatever reason, today it was as if it was the first time he was seeing it.

And it was a sight that he marveled at though Emily was unaware of his thoughts as her complete attention was consumed by the baby in her arms. He didn't know why it was affecting him this way as he had observed her with Jack multiple times. The moment was broken when Emily carefully passed the sleeping infant off to Garcia.

As he looked around the room, it seemed with everyone more relaxed what would have been a good time to tell the team about their marriage. But they had agreed not to say anything until Jordan had completed her time with the team. And unless Jordan made the choice to leave after this last case, she still have a few weeks left with them.

He caught Emily eye across the room and could tell she was considering the same thing. However she quickly gave a small shake of her head supporting what he concluded that staying with the plan was still the best option.

**####**

Later that evening after they arrived home, Hotch was sitting on the couch in sweatpants and undershirt while Emily had relaxed into him as she wore one of his tshirts and a pair of her sweatpants. It was these rare moments that gave them the normalcy that most people took for granted.

They looked at the Christmas tree they had set up the night before they had left for California, reveled in that they would be spending their first Christmas together as a couple. It was one of the few evenings that they had been home since Emily and all of her stuff had completely moved into what was now their apartment.

They were looking forward to spending part of the holidays with Jack as well as having some time where it was just them. This year Jack would be over with them for the morning of Christmas Eve and dinner for Christmas Day. While the team was scheduled to be on stand down they both hoped that nothing urgent would come up and undermine those plans.

Emily leaned forward and picked their wine glasses up off the table before sitting back against him before handing him his glass. As they both held their glasses they both found themselves lost in thought.

The silence went on between them though it wasn't uncomfortable. They were together and relaxed into each other.

Later Hotch turned after not getting a response to a question he posed to Emily. Worried, he turned to face her only to find that she had fallen asleep.

Gently taking the glass out of her hand, he reached out and placed both glasses on the dining table behind him. Then after maneuvering, he stood up holding her bridal style and walked her into their room before placing her in their bed.

He then returned to the family room to get their wine glasses to take the kitchen to place in the dishwasher. With that done he too headed to bed after turning off lights and making sure everything was locked up.

As he stepped back into the bedroom after using the bathroom and watched Emily sleep in their bed, he thought about how much he had missed these little pieces of normalcy after Haley left him. And now everything that he was looking forward to sharing with Emily.

He climbed in bed careful not to wake her. He turned off his bedside reading light before move up next to her. It wasn't long before in her sleep Emily turned into him resting her head on his chest as he had discovered she preferred to sleep. Shortly after that Hotch found himself also falling asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Thanks for the support and feedback for this story. I've been working on it for a long time and am glad that it is finally at a place that it can be published.**

**I wanted to address a question I've gotten from several people about the near tragedy part of this story. What I'll say is that that part of the story starts around chapter 17 however there is a clue before then about the direction of that event. Also no one from the BAU dies in this story.**

**CHAPTER 10**

As the team rested on the way back from Seattle, Hotch looked across the jet at his wife sleeping peacefully in the seat next to JJ. Over the course of the case, her mood had improved. Her explanation a couple of days ago was that JJ was finally back, Jordan was gone and she was a few thousand miles from her mother.

Between when they returned from Alabama and when they left for Seattle, Emily had gone over to her parents house for dinner. It was the first time Emily had seen her mother since they had gotten married as her parents had been out of the country for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

When she arrived home later that evening, he immediately deduced that the news had not been accepted well. He wanted to go with Emily however she decided that it would be received better if he was not there. Seeing how upset she was, he wasn't sure if that was the case.

When he asked what happened she shared that her mother had gone off on a tirade about being in a relationship with her boss. She wouldn't accept they were married when she heard that they had eloped.

Emily had told him she left shortly after her mother had continued as proof that he wasn't committed to being married was the lack of an engagement or wedding ring. It had taken some effort on his part to get this bit of information out of Emily.

Looking down at his hand, Hotch remembered that he had worn a ring during his marriage to Haley. If he looked closely enough, he could still make out the remnants of a tan line on his left ring finger. However he and Emily had decided to forgo rings.

As much as he wanted them both to be wearing that traditional outward symbol of their commitment to each other, they were both reluctant. Though the reason had to do with their jobs, it wasn't because they were keeping their marriage secret.

It was because rings would draw attention from the UNSUBs that they chase. Hotch had already experienced it during his marriage to Haley. It was attention that neither of them wanted.

But the reaction of the Ambassador had him back to considering alternatives. The ring containing Henry's birth stone that JJ had returned to the team with had given him an idea.

He had been looking for another piece of jewelry that would convey a special meaning for them. After doing a few web searches, he decided to visit a jewelry store where he knew the owner to see if he could create what Hotch had in mind.

**####**

Emily was confused when she entered their apartment and Aaron was not there. He had left the office early that day. She had heard him explaining to Dave that he had an errand to run. An errand that he had not mentioned to her that morning.

After putting her bag and purse down, she walked into the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. Carrying the glass with her as she opened to the refrigerator, Emily examined the options available for dinner before taking out the salmon fillets and broccoli she had put in there that morning. Putting the broccoli in a steaming basket, Emily finished prepping the salmon before placing it in the oven.

As she set the table Emily could hear keys juggling at the door followed a minute later by the door opening and Hotch walking into the apartment carefully assessing her mood.

Emily rolled her eyes at his not so subtle attempt to profile her and turned back to the kitchen as she said, "hey."

Hotch nervously walked towards her and asked, "can you come talk to me?"

Emily lifted the lid on the steamer and checked the time on the oven before nodding and walking out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch. Hotch sat down next to her and reached for both of her hands and pulled them over until they were resting with his hands on his thigh. He waited until she looked up at him, the confusion and apprehension visible on her face.

He hated that look, especially knowing he had put it there. Squeezing her hands, he said, "I'm sorry for not telling you I was going to leave early today. I wanted to surprise you and I couldn't do that if I told you what i was doing."

Emily huffed and shook her head before asking, "surprise me how? You know I don't like surprises, Aaron."

"I know but I'm hoping you are going to like this one." After giving her hands another squeeze, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the box from the jewelry store. Emily's eyes widened as she noticed what he had in his hand. She had known she was going to regret telling him about the comment her mother made as soon as she saw his face that day.

Pulling back her hands she then moved away from him on the couch as she said, "Aaron we talked about this."

"Emily I know we did and I respect that you don't want to wear a ring. That isn't what this is." He noticed her relaxing as he explained. He reached out and pulled her back so she was sitting next to him again. Once she was, he handed her the box and watched as she slowly and carefully opened it.

Inside the box was a gold necklace. Emily carefully took the necklace out of the box and closely examined it. It had two interconnected circles of gold, one inside the other. Set inside the smaller of the circles was a diamond solitaire while on the two sides there were bluish green stones at the connections of two circles.

She looked up at him quizzically and asked, "topaz?"

Hotch nodded and said, "apparently November has two stones. I noticed that you already had some jewelry with topaz so I went with that so you would have something different that JJ does with her ring."

Emily nodded and looked back down at the necklace and noticed their initials and the date of their wedding on the inner surface of the larger circle. She ran her finger over the necklace before looking up at him and saying with her eyes glistening, "it's beautiful. Thank you."

Hotch nodded before saying as he watched her carefully examining the necklace, "I know we talked about not doing rings but I still wanted you to have a piece of jewelry. I got the idea for a necklace and when we got home from Seattle, I went to a shop in Manassas that is owned by the father of one of my law school classmates. I described what I was interested in and he drew it out for me. I just got a call last night that it was ready and wanted to go pick it up before a case came up. It's already almost our three month anniversary and I wanted you to have it as soon as possible."

Emily held the necklace up before asking, "can you put it on for me?"

Hotch smiled at her request before nodding as he took the necklace from her hand. He had taken a massive chance with the decision to buy it, hoping that this would be her reaction.

After securing it clasp, Emily turned back around to face him while holding onto the pendant. As she moved her hand away from it, she looked down at it before looking back up at him, her eyes glistening. When he had caught her eyes, he said, "I'm glad you like it. The chain is slightly longer so you have the option of concealing the pendant under your shirt if you feel more comfortable."

Emily looked back down at it and nodded. As when they had their conversation about wedding rings, there were going to be situations while on the job that she would want the option of hiding her necklace as well. At least this was going to be easier to do that with than a ring.

Before she could answer, the alarm on the oven went off and Emily began to stand up to turn it off and check on their dinner. Before she could walk away from the couch, she felt Hotch's hand on her shoulder as he said, "I'll get it."

A while later as they were sitting at the table for dinner, Emily turned to Hotch and asked, "so does this mean you don't want to get the tattoos we talked about?"

Hotch looked back at her and smiled as he said, "no at all. We can still get those. This was in addition to that not instead of."

Emily nodded before saying, "I love you."

"I love you too Em."


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

Hotch was finishing up some paperwork in his office before the team went out that evening. He and Emily were planning to tell the team about their marriage tonight. This was their second attempt since JJ returned from maternity leave. Unfortunately the first time, the planned evening out was cancelled when JJ and Reid couldn't attend at the last minute.

As much as she wanted the team to know, Emily had been nervous about tonight ever since they planned it three days earlier. She had spent most of the previous evening pacing in their apartment wondering out loud how everyone would react not only to their marriage but being kept in the dark for so long.

Then when she came up to drop off her paperwork, he could see the nervousness on her face as well as a bit of fear in her eyes. As much as he wanted to reassure her, they were in the office and all he could offer at the time was that he would see her in a bit. She had left as planned to go home and change before they went out.

Just as he was finishing up, his office phone rang. He groaned and sighed as he picked it up. His hopes for a quick resolution were quickly dashed when he was told the Director had recommended him.

He sat down in his chair after hanging up, resigned to the fact that he was going to Dallas tonight. He had his bag so he didn't need to go home. Didn't have time to go home. But he did need to talk to Emily and let her know why he couldn't be there tonight.

Taking his phone out of his pocket, he dialed her number.

"Hello? Aaron?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Are you going to get back here before we go out or are you going to meet us there?" Emily asked nervously.

"About that…"

"We have a case."

"Not exactly. I've been asked to consult in Dallas."

"Just you?" Emily questioned.

"Yes."

"What's the case?"

Hotch sighed because he was used to having at least that much information when he traveled for a case. "I don't know yet. He was very vague on the phone."

"Then why are you going? Agreeing to take it? How do you know it's even a BAU case?"

"I don't. I'll get details once I'm there. I talked to the Attorney General in Texas. He said the Director recommended me."

Emily sighed and they were both silent for a minute. The mention of the Director had the same affect on her that there wasn't an option. He needed to go so she asked, "what do you need from the rest of us?"

"I don't know yet. I'll call you after I get there. I'm hoping once I'm there I can get them to agree for the rest of you to be brought in. Will you be OK?"

"Yeah, I'll go out with the others and wait for your call."

"OK. I'm sorry sweetheart. I know we were going to tell them tonight."

Emily sighed "there will be a different time to do that. We've waited this long. What is another few days? I love you."

"I love you too. I'll talk to you soon." Hotch said before ending the call. He shook his head before picking up his bag and walking out of the office, wondering what he was walking into in Dallas.

**####**

Hotch took a seat by himself as the team was heading back to Quantico. As the case progressed, the issues that had influenced the young woman who they had identified as their UNSUB came into focus. With the case over he couldn't get either the phone or hotel conversations with Megan Kane out of his head. What they had been able to determine was the reason she had followed the path that she did.

From interviews and evidence, the common themes was she hadn't been able to get past her parent's divorce and her father indifference to her afterwards.

Being divorced himself with a child from that marriage, he found himself evaluating his own divorce as well as his relationships with Haley and Jack since then.

While angry and frustrated by the way Haley left him, Hotch had done his best to work with her in good faith as they negotiated the separation and later divorce. He had reluctantly conceded to Haley's request not involve lawyers in their divorce and signed off on her terms though they overwhelmingly favored her position.

As for Jack, he had made sure that his child support was automatically paid on schedule every month. He had also made plans to make sure that Jack would be cared for if anything was ever to happen to him.

After he married Emily, she had stopped him when he started to explain why she wasn't the beneficiary on his life insurance. She said that if anything did happen to him, it was reassuring that it was going to Jack. That she wasn't with him for money and that financially she could take care of herself.

Emily. As he thought of her, he remembered her insistence about him taking Jack to buy a Christmas present for Haley and well as her rationale that day. He remembered how excited Jack had been when they went as well as when Hotch had helped him wrap the gift he had picked out.

But he sighed he still missed more visitation then he would like because of cases. He was disappointed each time that he needed to make that phone call to Haley.

With this case, he was now considering how Jack felt each time he learned that Hotch wasn't coming as planned. Would the day come that the reality of his work wouldn't be enough to explain his absence and Jack would leave him just as Haley had?

Just then he felt a hand squeeze his shoulder. Looking up he saw Emily walking past him on the way to the galley. She along with the rest of the team had known that he had been with Megan Kane as she died. After they finished at the station and headed for the plane, she had given him the space that he needed to process the case.

But now, he wasn't sure he wanted to be by himself anymore. However he also didn't know how to go about changing that as he also didn't want to be social with the whole team. As if she had read his mind, as she worked her way through the cabin, Emily sat down across from him after placing coffee mugs down in front of both seats.

They sat there quietly for several minutes as he could feel her eyes on him. Assessing him before she asked, "are you OK?"

He looked up and gave her a small smile before answering, "yes, I'll be fine. Thanks for the coffee."

Emily nodded but did not reply. While she believed that he would be fine, she was interested in how he was now. Unfortunately, that was the answer her boss Hotch was going to give her on this plane. She just hoped that Aaron her husband would be more forthcoming when they got home.

Megan Kane had made it personal with him on that phone call touching on an area of his life where he was already sensitive. While Emily was glad that Megan Kane had had someone with her when she died as no one should die alone. Now she just wished she knew what had been said in those minutes as Hotch had been in his head since returning to the station.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER 12**

Emily stopped and stood in front of the church she went to as a child when they were in DC. Taking the picture of her with John and Matthew out of her pocket, she could feel the tears building in her eyes. A picture taken before life became complicated. Now one of them died. The other nearly killed by the same deluded priest. Would have been if she and Derek hadn't stopped him.

And what about her. She had shared a small part of her story with Dave. A story that she swore she would never share with anyone.

She and Aaron had been bristling throughout this case as her desire to get justice for one of her oldest friends didn't line up with what had to be done to protect the team. Things had come to a head during their argument in his office. She paused and sighed.

He didn't want to see her in the office for the next few days. At home, she didn't know where they were going to stand. Was she going to be able to still call their apartment home?

Just then she notices a drop of blood on the picture followed quickly by another. Pulling a single tissue out of her pocket, she held it up to her nose noting that it didn't appear to stopping as she felt the warmth of her blood soaking through it.

Looking back up at the church, she considers her options. She remembered were the bathroom was… or at least where it use to be from her childhood. She could slip in, get her nose to stop bleeding, clean up and then slip out.

Or she could just walk away and find somewhere else.

Sighing as she felt the sticky moisture of the tissue, Emily walked up the steps to enter the church.

####

Hotch sat in his car as he reached his apartment. When he got inside, he knew he and Emily were going to need to talk through everything that had happened since she learned of her friend's death. It was times like these that he hated his job.

That first night when she told him that her friend had died, he had taken her home and held her through her unsettled sleep. He had wanted nothing more than to support her even when he didn't understand why she was so angry at times.

But he had also needed to keep the big picture for the BAU in mind. It wasn't just the unwanted attention it would bring to their relationship. His decisions, particularly after they started getting pushback, could have affected the future of the entire unit.

Getting out of the car, he walked into the building before pausing in front of their apartment door. He took a deep breath before opening the door and walked inside. A quick look around indicated that no one had been there since they had left that morning.

Looking at his watch, he shook his head. It had been almost three hours since he left her with Dave while he and Morgan took Father Silvano to the airport. After there was no answer on Emily's phone, he called Dave planning to inquire about where he had dropped Emily off or if she was still with him.

His frustration grew during their conversation when Dave revealed that Emily had walked away from the scene shortly after he had left.

As it got later and the snow continued to fall, the temperature had dropped further. Now he was officially worried about his missing wife.

From a call earlier to Morgan, Hotch knew that Garcia had left the office so he called the number for the office of the Bureau technical analyst that was in house right now and had him trace Emily's phone. He was confused as he hung up the phone at the location he was given.

Picking up his coat and keys, he left the apartment heading back out to his car.

**####**

After cleaning up from her nosebleed in the bathroom, Emily walked back out, planning to leave when she stopped and looked around the church.

It had been years since she had set foot in any church. As much as she was planning to leave, there was something pulling her to stay. She walked halfway up the aisle before taking a seat in one of the pews.

She looked down and could feel the tears fall as she thought about Matthew.

About his friendship.

About her guilt about her part in the path he started down when they were teens.

About how at one point all of this had been so very important to him.

Although she knew he had developed issues with the Church over the years, as far as she knew his faith in God had not diminished.

So although it had been years and she had stepped away from her own faith, today she decided to stay and pray for her friend because it was important to him. She prayed for his soul and she prayed that he had at last found peace.

She didn't know how long she had been there though she had sensed movement as others quietly came in and out along with the bursts of cold whenever the door was opened.

When she didn't know what else to pray for, she sat back in the seat exhausted. As she did, she noticed candles in the corner. Standing up, she left the pews and walked over to the candles. Picking up one of the lighters, she lit one for Matthew and said a prayer. Then she lit two more- one for Thomas Valentine and and the other for Patrick Cavanaugh as they were victims of the same person.

When she turned around, she immediately noticed Aaron sitting in a pew in the back of the church. She sighed as she still wasn't ready to get into the mess of the last few days with him. He stood up as she walked towards him and enveloped her in a hug when she reached him.

"How long have you been here?" Emily asked quietly as he held her, not wanting to disturb those who were still praying.

"About 30 minutes. I saw you were here when I came in and didn't want to interrupt you. I was worried when I got home and you weren't. When I called him Dave said you were out walking." he replied as her lowered his mouth so it was next to her ear. "Do you want to stay longer or are you ready to go?"

"We can go." Emily said as they walked out of the church. She sighed as she curled into his side before saying, "I didn't come here on purpose, I just found myself here. And then when I was standing outside, my nose started bleeding and I just came in to clean up. Then I don't know something drew me to pray. I haven't in years but today, I just needed to be there."

"For your friend." Hotch replied softly as he held her next to him as they walked back to his car.

He could feel Emily nodding before she said, "yeah. I know you have a lot of questions and I'll answer them. I just… I just..."

They stopped and he turned to look at her before he asked gently, "you just what?" as he desperately wanted to understand what had been happening the last few days.

Emily sighed and shook her head as she looked at the ground. Then she looked up and met his eye before saying, "I just worry you will think of me differently once I do."

Hotch frowned, unsure of what she could have to tell him that would be that momentous. He then stepped closer to her and placed his arm around her as they continued walking back to the car knowing that this conversation could wait, "let's go home."


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER 13**

Hotch was in his office in the BAU late on Sunday evening trying to catch up on paperwork. It was paperwork that he would generally stay an hour or two in the evenings to complete. But he hadn't this week. He had been leaving with the rest of the team to spend the evenings at home with Emily.

It had been over a week since he found her praying in the church. She had been quiet and tense on the drive back to their apartment. When they had arrived, Hotch sighed when Emily had disappeared into their bedroom. In all of the time he had known her, he had never seen her like this. It made him particularly nervous about what she was going to tell him about her connection to Matthew and John as well as the case.

Deciding to give her some time, he made a light dinner for them. Noticing the look of fatigue on her face while they ate, he quickly cleaned up after dinner before suggesting they go to bed early where he held her in her troubled sleep. Various possibilities floated around in his head as the night progressed.

The next afternoon after curling up on the couch together, Emily had shared with him what happened in Rome and explained the roles Matthew, the Bentons, John and Fr Silvano played in what happened during that point in her life. She shared what part of the story she had told Dave about though Hotch quickly learned that there had been so much more to her story.

Since that afternoon, he had been trying to be there to support Emily through the grief of her lost friend as much as possible which is why he had been limiting his time in the office throughout the week.

But he also knew that the time that the team had been without a case made it more likely that one would be coming up soon. He still wouldn't have come in if Emily needed him at home however she had told him she was doing better and had practically pushed him out the door.

As he was down to the last couple of files his office phone rang. He grimaced as a call on his office line this late on a Sunday evening could only mean bad news for his attempt to leave and go home. Answering the phone, he was surprised at the explanation for the call.

After hanging up, he sat at his desk letting his mind wander about what Shaunessy could possibly need to talk to him about. They had only ever worked the one case together and that had been over a decade ago.

However, it was a case that he would never forget. It had been his first working solo as a BAU agent. He had been in Boston working with the police to find the UNSUB until the murders stopped suddenly. After closely monitoring the situation for weeks Shaunessy had sent him home with the case still unsolved.

From the report the caregiver had shared with him, Hotch knew he didn't have much time to dwell on the whys. After talking to Emily, he booked the first available flight to Boston which happened to be later that evening.

**####**

Hotch paced in his office with frustration. He could not get past what Shaunessy had shared with him about what had actually occurred during the Reaper case. The murders hadn't stopped on their own. Shaunessy had made a deal with the UNSUB for them to stop.

But now as he just learning of Shaunessy's death in the early morning hours, Hotch's fear along with the concern Shaunessy had shared with him when they had met Sunday evening in Boston was that the Reaper would resume killing. He had JJ closely watching for crimes in Boston as he wanted to be able to mobilize the team if anything popped up.

He didn't have to wait long until JJ showed up in his office with the report of a double murder in Boston. When he saw the pictures taken at the scene, he knew who did it.

As the team moved to the jet he realized he hadn't filled Emily completely in about what was going on except for a brief discussion before he went to Boston to talk to Shaunessy.

As the team settled on the jet, Hotch knew Emily was going to be annoyed with him during this case. He planned on keeping her at the station working victimology with Reid. He had remembered the crime scenes from years earlier when he saw the latest scene. He did not want her anywhere near that.

Additionally given how quickly the Reaper started again after Shaunessy's death indicated that he had been watching him. There was no way that he would let Emily go into the field without him. But could he take the chance that the Reaper would sense a connection between them? It would give the Reaper a vulnerability of his to exploit.

No she would need to stay at the station. Yes she would be upset with him but wouldn't question him in the field. Hopefully after the case when they could discuss it at home, she would understand his rationale.

**####**

Emily was having difficulty hiding her frustration as she entered the hotel with Dave and JJ. It had been three days and Hotch had yet to give her an assignment outside of the field office since they had arrived in Boston. Even JJ and Reid had been given tasks outside the station.

She knew that since Matthew's death she had been struggling. But she was better now and just wanted to go back to doing her job. Needed to be doing her job not relegated to the station like a fragile doll.

After JJ excused herself, Dave stopped her before they entered their rooms. He had noticed the tension in Emily over the last couple of days. He knew more details than most on the team about why the death of her friend Matthew had affected her so deeply.

After stepping into Dave's room, they talked for a few minutes as he checks in with her. After reassuring him that she is feeling better, she vents briefly about her frustration of being sidelined. Dave quietly listening having also noticed that Hotch was doing it and not realizing until now it wasn't Emily's request.

Feeling better after talking it through with Dave, Emily excused herself. Meanwhile Dave was planning to talk to Hotch about having Emily go out in the field with him the next day.

As she reached her room door, Emily put the key back in her pocket and headed back downstairs to the small convenience store in the hotel for some snacks.

As she was leaving the store after buying her snacks, she bumped into someone. When she looked up to apologize she realized it was her husband. Or in this setting, her boss.

As he closely observed her, Hotch asked, "are you OK?"

Emily answered brusquely, "I'm fine."

Hotch nodded before looking around and gesturing her to follow him to an empty conference room on the other side of the lobby. Once they were in the room, he put his hands on her shoulders and asked, "how are you really doing Emily?"

Emily sighed before answering, "like I said I'm fine."

He looked at her suspiciously as he knew that her saying she was 'fine' was a certain indicator that she wasn't. While they were currently alone, this was not really the place to get into the conversation of what he was already sure was bothering her. So he nodded before saying, "if you are sure but you seemed to have been upset earlier."

Emily shook her head before answering since they were alone, "I'm frustrated Aaron. I've been stuck in the precinct since we got here. Even JJ and Reid have been in the field. I don't like being sidelined."

Hotch groaned because he really didn't want to completely explain why he had her out of the field as it would upset her even more. Putting his hands on her shoulders, he waited until she was looking at him before saying, "there is a lot of complexities with this case. I wanted to just have one person in charge of victimology."

Emily tilted her head as she answered, "and you decided to make me that person."

He nodded as he answered, "yes." before pausing before he said reluctantly, "if it is upsetting you this much then I'll see about sending you out with Dave or Morgan tomorrow."

Emily smiled at him as she answered, "that all I ask Aaron. Thank you."

Hotch nodded as he said softly, "just be careful Mrs Hotchner."

Emily nodded as she answered, "I will..." she paused when he turned his attention to his phone and frowning at the message he received before continuing, "everything OK?"

Hotch looked up from his phone and placed it in his pocket before saying, "I need to go back to the precinct."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Emily asked.

Hotch shook his head before answering, "no, I'm going to get Dave. You stay here. Enjoy your chocolate." as he escorted her towards the elevator to head up the floor where the team's rooms were. In their hurry to leave the conference room, they failed to notice the hidden figure lurking around the corner from the door of the conference room.

Before the elevator door opened on their floor, Hotch leaned in and kissed her before resting his forehead on hers and saying ,"I love you."

Emily smiled back at him and replied, "I love you too my dear husband."

As the elevator dinged to alert that they had reached the correct floor they reluctantly pulled back from one another to a respectable distance before the door opened.

When they reached the door to Emily's room he squeezed her arm and said good night before watching her disappear into into the room. He hated that they weren't sharing a room.

He sighed when the door closed before he shook his head and walked over to Dave's door. A second message from the detective had requested that he meet the locals at a crime scene that was only a few blocks from the hotel.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

Emily looked around their bedroom, taking in her work from the last couple of hours. Accepting that everything was in the place she wanted, she walked out of the room towards the kitchen to check her preparations there.

It had been five months since Emily and Aaron married in Vegas. Emily had been planning for several days how she wanted them to spend the evening if the team was home. And by some miracle, no cases had come up that they needed to travel as they had been on this day in the previous months since they got married.

Aaron had mentioned the previous evening that he had a late afternoon meeting with Strauss. At first, she had been disappointed because part of what she had been planning was for them to go out to dinner. With that seemingly off the table knowing how long these types of meetings tended to go, Emily decided to order take out and they'd have an evening at home to unwind and celebrate.

She had left the office as soon as she was done the day's paperwork. In addition to stopping to pick up dinner from their favorite restaurant, she had brought a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for them.

When she arrived home, she quickly placed the champagne and strawberries in the refrigerator as well as putting their dinner in the oven on warm.

Going into their bathroom, she stripped away the attire of Agent Prentiss before taking a quick shower. After her shower, she lathered her body with the lotion that she knew was Aaron's favorite scent.

Walking over and sitting at the vanity, Emily carefully placed several curls throughout her hair, styling it down. With her hair done, she worked on reapplying her makeup slightly heavier than what she wore to work.

Feeling ready except to slip on her new red negligee, Emily went to work setting up the candles she had brought over from her apartment months earlier in the bathroom and bedroom. When she was done, Emily went over to the linen closet and pulled out the set of rarely used silk sheets that had been a gift from a friend years ago. She had found them in with the linens at her apartment when she had been inventorying for the move. Deciding that they would be a nice addition for a night like what she had planned for tonight, she had hid them so it would be a surprise.

Having finished remaking the bed and placing the other sheets in the laundry, Emily went to the kitchen to fill the ice bucket before taking the bottle of champagne out of the refrigerator. Placing the bottle in the ice bucket, she took it and the stand into the bedroom and set it up next to the bed. Returning to the kitchen, she took champagne flutes out of the cabinet and carried them into the bedroom and placed them on the dresser near where the champagne was.

Once that was done, she looked around the room assuring herself that everything was in place. Sighing as she nodded that everything was done. Now she just needed to wait for Aaron to get home.

**####**

Hotch sighed as he walked into the apartment carrying a bouquet of roses. He had sent Emily a text message as he was leaving the BAU. It was the fifth month in a row that something had come up on the month anniversary of their wedding. He had made plans to take Emily out to dinner to celebrate before Strauss summoned him for this last minute meeting.

Now that he was home, he noticed that the lights were low in the living room and off in the kitchen. He took a couple of steps forward wondering where Emily was. She had left the office while he was in an earlier meeting.

All of the sudden he heard movement coming from their bedroom. Turning, he was greeted with the sight of his wife leaning against the door jam looking significantly different than the last time he saw her. She now had her hair down and curled. And he hadn't seen what she was wearing before tonight - a sheer red piece of lingerie that left nothing to the imagination. He would have remembered if she had worn it before.

Smiling, he walked over to her and stopped just in front of her before saying, "this is a surprise."

Emily smiled before she answered, "well we are home and not on a case. I thought we could make the most of it."

"That sounds good."

"So do you want to start with food, a bath or…" she paused as she looked down at herself before looking back at him and continuing, "... or me."

"Hmm, that's a difficult choice. Very difficult. What did you say was for dinner?" Hotch teased.

Emily huffed before answering, "I didn't say but …" but she was interrupted when Hotch leaned in kissing her passionately.

As they kissed he moved them into the bedroom making sure she knew in no uncertain terms what his preference was even if it took all night.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

The news that Hotch had gotten earlier in the day was worrying him. He and Emily had been married for almost six months now. To their knowledge no one in the Bureau knew they were together, let alone married, including the team.

And from the reports coming out after what happened in the Forgery division, they weren't going to be able to tell anyone until they decided what to do next.

Last week, the Bureau was rocked by allegations from several female agents about sexual harassment and discrimination based on gender in the Forgery department. Others in that department were found to be aware of the violations but did not report them and were now also being reprimanded.

An subsequent investigation also found rampant violation in the anti fraternization rules and blatant sexual harassment across multiple departments. As a result, the Bureau was suddenly becoming much stricter on enforcing the anti fraternization rules.

Hotch and Emily had hoped if they could show that they had worked well together that in a few weeks, they could go to the higher ups and admit to their relationship. The recent change in policy undermined that plan. It no longer appeared that it would be received favorably but would result in both of them losing their jobs or loss of rank and assigned to separate departments.

Now he was glad that the time never came for them to tell the team. If the truth about his and Emily's marriage came out before they could act, the team would honestly be able to answer in an investigation that they didn't know. Though he wasn't quite sure how it would look for profilers to be unaware of a relationship right under their noses.

After they got home that night and ate, Hotch decided to broach the topic. He and Emily needed to decide together what they wanted to do.

"Emily, we need to talk."

Emily looked over at him nervously as these were words no one ever wanted to hear from their significant other particularly when you already had a fairly good idea of what they wanted to talk about.

She nodded before answering, "I know. About Jack Smith and the Forgery department?"

"Yes. And the changes in the anti fraternization rules. We need to decide what we want to do." Hotch explained.

Emily looked down at the table while saying quietly, "do you want a divorce?"

Hotch's eyes widened as he heard her. He knew things had suddenly become much more complicated but he didn't realize that was where her thoughts were going.

Standing up he pulled his chair until it was right next to her. After sitting back down, he placed his finger under her chin and waited until she was looking at him to say, "Emily, no. That isn't even an option. I love you. I wasn't lying when I said I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

As he spoke Emily could feel herself letting out a breath that she had been holding most of the day. As tears started to fall down her face, she answered, "I love you too. So much. I've been so worried since the story came out."

Hotch wiped the tears from her cheek before leading her over to the couch where she leaned against him. Once they had settled, he replied, "now that we have agreed that our marriage isn't what is going to change, we need to decide what will change."

Emily sighed before saying, "I'm going to leave the team, Aaron. It makes the most sense. As you know, both Counterterrorism and Counterintelligence have both been actively recruiting me since I came to Quantico. The combination of profiler and language skills is very attractive to both departments. I don't want to work with Jordan Todd again so I'll probably look at Counterintelligence first."

Hotch shook his head before saying, "I can't ask you to do that. I've been with the team longer. I can find another position. I'm also being actively recruited for other positions both inside and outside the Bureau."

Emily sighed before looking over at him and answering, "but Aaron you are the Unit Chief. You are the leader of the BAU team and handpicked the members. It will be very difficult to find another position of the same rank at Quantico. Besides, you know Strauss will challenge any transfer that will put you in position to make advancement. It will be easier for me to transfer."

Hotch sighed nodding at her points but still didn't want to concede to her being the one to leave the team. However he was impressed with the departments that she mentioned and either would allow her to advance her career.

As they sat there holding each other, he said, "Emily, let's not decide tonight. We need to gather information of what the options are for both of us. And what is available right now. Why don't we both do our research and come back to this discussion in a few days?"

He could feel Emily nod before he heard her answer confidently, "OK Aaron. But I'm leaving the team."

Hotch heard the determination in her voice however for him the draw of the BAU wasn't what it once was. This was something that they were both going to need to figure out together. He was just relieved that they had at least discussed it enough that Emily was no longer worrying about the status of their marriage.

After kissing her forehead, he whispered, "we'll see sweetheart. Let's go to bed. It's been an exhausting day."

He stood up and she took his hand and moved up next to him, curling into him before tilting her head and kissing up the side of his neck. When she reached his ear she nipped his earlobe before whispering in his ear, "it has been an exhausting day. But I need you tonight Aaron."

He wrapped his arms around her pulling her close to him before answering, "I need you too sweetheart." He then picked her up and carried her into their bedroom.


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

Hotch and Emily had needed to postpone their planned discussion twice because of travel for cases. Today the team was headed to Canada after a former soldier crashed into a border checkpoint on the Canadian side and confessed to killing several people.

On the surface, it seemed like a straightforward case for the team. However, after reading through the file, Hotch was certain that what they knew was only the tip of a much bigger iceberg.

On the jet, he assigned Morgan and Emily to go to Detroit while the rest of the team headed for Canada. Initially he was going to send Rossi with Morgan. However on the jet Rossi stated a preexisting relationship with the Canadian agent in charge of the case. Therefore the prudent decision was for Dave to join the team in Canada.

Hotch had wanted to keep Emily close because she had been off since they had their conversation about which one of them was going to leave the team. Since that night, she had seemed stressed out which was making her cranky, tired and physically sick.

But at least today on the jet, she seemed to be in a good mood. This reassured him about making the decision to send her with Morgan. The two of them generally worked well together and Morgan would do anything in his power to keep her safe. It made the most sense and with their actions surely coming under scrutiny in the coming weeks, he needed to make the best decision for the team.

**####**

It was just after dawn and the BAU team along with a small group of Canadian agents had spent the night cataloguing what they could at the farm they had zeroed in on in Canada. The promised reinforcements had started to trickle in an hour earlier. The group that had arrived 10 minutes earlier had brought food and beverages.

However food was the last thing Emily wanted right now. She wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She thought it was the stress she had felt since her and Aaron had talked about how the changes in Bureau anti fraternization rules would affect their relationship.

She had been so scared when she first heard about the policy change that he would ask for a divorce. She had spent that whole day before they talked preparing herself for leaving the team knowing she wouldn't have been able to work with him everyday if they had taken that route. Even with a divorce off the table, she still felt that she should be the one to leave the team.

While even she didn't know all of the details of what happened with his marriage to Haley, what she did know was that his job had been a significant factor. Emily had been relieved when he said he wanted to be with her. He had even been open to looking for a position outside of the team however she wasn't sure how practical that option was going to be.

When the agents first started arriving, she thought coffee would help with the overwhelming fatigue she was feeling. However as soon as the smell hit her, her stomach turned and she had to take some deep breaths to avoid vomiting.

An hour later and feeling somewhat better, Emily walked away from the farm to canvas the woods with an RCMP group with an attached K9 team. It was clear when she requested to go, Aaron hadn't wanted her to leave. But when she told him she couldn't stomach the death and devastation any more, he gave her a curt nod and made her promise to be careful.

Hiking through the woods was not going to help with how tired she was but at least now she felt better after being able to tolerate some weak tea and a plain bagel.

**####**

Hotch was driving them home... finally. The case in Canada was horrific even on BAU standards. The team was exhausted after days of little sleep. The team had come into the office with little complaint to complete their paperwork for the case. Strauss had messaged him that she wanted all of it on her desk before she arrived in the morning. She wanted the reports available for the meeting she had with the Director and a RCMP counterpart in the morning to review the collaboration.

After everything was handed in and Hotch had signed it off, he dropped the files off in Strauss' in box. Usually an office assistant would run the paperwork to her office for him but given the hour, only he and Emily had been left in the building.

Later as they walked into their apartment building, Emily realized she left her cell phone in the car. When she stopped in the hallway, Hotch turned and looked at her confused.

"Are you OK? Do you want me to take your bag?" he asked.

Emily nodded as she took her bag off her shoulder, "yes, could you? I need to go back to the car. I forgot my phone."

"Just leave it Em. We'll get it in the morning." Hotch replied tiredly as he just wanted to shower and then lay down in his own bed.

Emily shook her head before whisper yelling, "and hope that no one breaks in and steals it. That would be hours of paperwork plus having to explain why I was at your apartment overnight. We need to stick with the plan and that is no one can know about us yet."

Hotch sighed and nodded, knowing she was right. Placing his bag on the ground, he asked,"OK, do you want me to get it?"

Emily handed him her bag before answering, "no, I'll go. Can you start the shower for us?"

"OK. But if you aren't back in five minutes, I'm coming out." Hotch said sternly before turning to walk towards their apartment.

"Deal." Emily replied after looking at her watch and jogging off the other way towards the parking lot.

Four minutes later, Emily was almost to their apartment when she heard shouts coming from inside. Moving closer to the door, she could hear one was Aaron and the other, the voice was familiar.

Who would be waiting in their apartment at 2AM? When he spoke again, her blood chilled as she realized who it was - Foyet!

Moving back down the hall to go around a corner, Emily pulled her phone out and dialed the number of the team member who lived closest to them.

Morgan answered the phone and said with sleep thick in his voice, "Prentiss, this better be good and it sure as hell better not be another case."

Emily glanced down the hall before she said in as forceful a voice as she could while whispering, "Derek, shut up and listen to me carefully. Foyet is in Hotch's apartment. He must have been waiting there for him. Call the team and call it into the locals. Get everyone here." Given what they had witnessed in Boston she didn't want to underestimate Foyet.

As she spoke Emily could hear rustling on the other end of the line before Morgan said much more awake this time, "I'm calling Garcia." He paused and then asked confusedly, "wait you are there? Why are you at Hotch's building?"

Emily groaned not wanting to get into this topic right now. She was too worried about what was going on behind the door of their apartment. "Derek, now!" she answered forcefully.

There was more shuffling on the other end of the phone before he answered, "I'm in my car. Pen was making the 911 call and conferencing in the rest of the team. What are you doing?"

Emily sighed and looked up and down the hallway as she moved slightly closer to their apartment before she said, "I'm listening from the hallway. They are arguing. It's definitely Foyet. He is saying that Hotch should have taken the deal."

Then Derek came back with, "OK Em. Hang in there. My ETA is five minutes." as Emily could hear the stress in his voice having already come up against Foyet himself.

"Ahh." Emily exclaimed into the phone.

"What was that Em?" Derek asked having heard the noise Emily had just reacted to through the phone.

Emily stressed as she was crouched down in the alcove where she was talking to Morgan, "gun shot. They are still arguing though."

Morgan could hear the tension in her voice and said as he attempted to calm himself, "OK then the shot must have missed." He paused before continuing, "must have been Foyet because we both know Hotch doesn't miss."

"Oh no, I can hear crashing and things breaking." Emily responded with the tension rising in her voice.

Derek put more pressure on the accelerator knowing he needed to get to Hotch's place quickly.

"Hold on Em. I'm two minutes out. Wait for me." Derek shouted through the phone not wanting her to go in herself when he was so close.

Emily shook her head as she heard the ongoing commotion in their apartment. She couldn't wait anymore. In two minutes, Aaron could be dead. Killed while she was standing a few feet outside the door so she said, "I can't wait anymore Derek. I can't stand out here while Foyet kills my husband. I can't do it." before she hung up, put the phone in her pocket, and pulled her gun as she took a few cleansing breaths.

"Emily. EMILY!" Derek shouted into the phone but knowing it was of no use as he heard the dial tone. He put more pressure on the accelerator with now two members of the team in danger.

Emily quickly opens the door of the apartment to see what was their immaculate apartment now ransacked. Aaron was lying on the floor by the kitchen, bleeding from his abdomen. Foyet was kneeling over him with a hunting knife in his hand.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Agent Prentiss or should I say Mrs Hotchner? Nice of you to join us. We're going to have fun tonight. Drop the gun or I'll kill him now." Foyet said chuckling as he stood up from his crouch over Aaron. He took his gun out of his pocket and pointed it towards Hotch.

Hotch lifted his head and waited until she made eye contact with him before saying, "Emily don't do it. Remember the profile. Don't drop your gun. We are both dead if you do."


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER 17**

Derek pulled up on the sidewalk outside of Hotch's building and ran towards the entrance. Just as he reached it, Dave came around the corner, surprising both of them. Dave's current love interest lived a few blocks from Hotch and he had rushed out when he received the call from Garcia.

"Morgan, what in the hell is going on?" Dave yelled at the younger agent and they ran towards the entrance of the building.

"Foyet is here." Derek yelled back, knowing he needed to get to the apartment as quickly as possible. It had already been too long since Emily had hung up.

"How do you know?" Dave asked as they moved forward.

Morgan shook his head as he tried to explain how they got to this point. "Prentiss called from outside the apartment. Said she could hear Hotch and Foyet arguing. There was a gunshot but they continued arguing afterwards. Then there was a crash. She went in alone. I couldn't stop her. That was three minutes ago. Pen was calling all of you and locals while I drove over."

Dave stopped suddenly as he felt his anxiety rise first at Foyet ambushing Hotch but then felt it turn to panic when Morgan mentioned Emily going in alone. As he started to go forward again, he grumbled, "what is she thinking? Going in without backup. Against Foyet."

Morgan took a deep breath and shook his head before he answered, "she couldn't stand by and let him kill her husband and do nothing."

Dave eyebrows jumped up his forehead at the information as he blurted out, "husband?! Oh crap. We need to get in there."

Just as they came up to the door, they heard multiple gunshots.

As Rossi and Morgan entered the apartment, they took in the carnage in front of them. Dave ran over and kicked the gun out of Foyet's hand. The bullet wound to his forehead had killed him and once Dave had confirmed he was dead, he turned to Hotch who had blood covering his abdomen. He was relieved that Hotch still had a pulse. All of the sudden a hand grabbed his arm.

"Dave, how is she? How is Emily?" Hotch asked in a panic.

"Derek is checking on her." Dave responded before turning to look across the room to where Emily was lying on the floor with Derek leaning over her as he assessed her condition.

The few seconds felt like months to Hotch and Dave before he answered, "she has a pulse Hotch but it's weak. She was hit in the left upper chest. She is bleeding from her head as well though that looks like a gash not a bullet wound. I'm putting pressure on both to try to get the bleeding under control until EMS gets here."

"Let's see if we can speed them up." Dave said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed. After a few seconds, he said into the phone, "yes 911 this is SSA Rossi of the FBI. We have two agents down. Both need immediate medical attention. The suspect is DOA." He paused as the 911 operator spoke before continuing, "one agent has a GSW to her left upper chest and a head injury. We are working to control bleeding. She has a weak pulse and is unconscious. The other agent has stab wounds to abdomen. He is conscious and talking. Also working to control bleeding."

"Oh my god, what happened?" Dave, Hotch and Morgan all look over at the door to see JJ and Reid standing there.

As Dave saw them he shouted out, "JJ, EMS is two minutes out. Go out and wait for them and get them in here as quickly as possible. Emily was hit in the chest." Both JJ and Reid gasped as they looked over to where Morgan was holding pressure on the wound on Emily's chest. JJ nodded and moved away from the door frame as she headed towards the entrance of the building to wait for EMS.

"Is that Foyet?" Reid asked as he walked into the room and saw the third body lying on the floor.

Hotch nodded before saying with pain evident in his voice, "yes, he was here when I arrived. Don't know how he got in. He was going to stab me so I had wounds like him. He and Emily fired their guns at the same time." Hotch winced as he lifted his head to look across the room to where Emily lying on the floor, "Derek, how is she? Please tell me she is going to be OK." His head fell back to the floor as he awaited an answer from the other side of the room.

Derek looked over at his boss in pain on the floor. He sighed before he nodded as he said, "Hotch, I have pressure on the wound. She is breathing and has a pulse."

"Thank you." Hotch said before he closed his eyes as he laid on the floor. They quickly opened when he heard a lot of movement in the room. He watched as JJ entered the room quickly followed by EMS and Metro Police.

As people flooded the room, Hotch was caught off guard when he felt someone touch him as they kneeled down next to him. Turning to the EMT, he said, "No, take care of her first. I'm OK."

The EMT shook his head as he moved the makeshift bandage Rossi had been using on his abdomen before saying, "Agent, you are not OK. We have another team working on your colleague. We are here for you." as he indicated himself and an older paramedic pulling equipment out of their bag.

The chaos in the apartment continued for a few minutes, increasing as the team working on Emily quickly decided to transport as they were concerned with the readings they were getting. As they moved her onto a gurney, Dave called out, "Derek, you ride with Emily. I'll stay with Hotch." Derek nodded and followed the EMTs with the gurney out as they headed out to the ambulance.

As the other team of EMTs were preparing Hotch for transport, Dave waved them over and said, "JJ and Reid, I want you to stay here and wait for the forensic teams. Check to see if there is anything that seems out of place. Hotch said Foyet was already in the apartment, have forensics check to determine how he got in here."

After they nodded they watched as Dave followed the gurney holding Hotch out of the apartment.


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER 18**

When they reached the hospital, the staff sent Dave to go to the waiting area while they assessed Hotch. As the staff examined him, Hotch asked, "how is the woman who came in with me? I need to know how she is doing?"

"Agent, right now we need to assess and stabilize you. There is another team working on your colleague." the doctor explained as he assessed Hotch.

Hotch started to sit up, surprising the medical team as he said seriously, "she isn't just my colleague. She is my wife. I need to know if she is OK."

The doctor exchanged a look with a nurse on the other side of the stretcher who nodded before walking out of the room. The doctor looked at him and said, "OK, Agent Hotchner. The nurse is going to go over and see if the doctor treating her can come over to talk to you before we take you up to surgery."

Hotch shook his head before responding, "I'm not consenting to surgery until I hear about my wife's condition." The doctor sighed before walking out of the room.

Hotch could feel the anxiety rise as he waited alone in the room for several minutes. Then a voice caught him by surprise, "Agent Hotchner?"

Hotch looked up to see a woman with blond hair wearing light blue scrubs under a white coat looking over at him, "Yes."

She smiled and walked into the room and over to his bedside before saying, "I'm Dr. Winters. I'm treating Emily Prentiss. I was told you were asking about her."

He nodded before saying, "yes. She is my wife and I want to know what her condition is and the extent of her injuries."

After nodding, the doctor explained, "we won't know the extent of her injuries until we get her to the OR. For now, I'll tell you what we do know.

She has a GSW to the left upper chest. When she arrived, there was a tension pneumothorax in her left lung, a lung collapse which was making it difficult for her to move air through either of her lungs. We inserted a chest tube and that was successful in allowing her lung to reexpand and she is breathing easier.

The x rays show a broken clavicle and damage to her shoulder though we won't know the extent of that until orthopedics examines the injury in the OR.

She also hit her head most likely when she fell which left a contusion and deep gash that will need stitches. She is still unconscious but her vital signs look much better now than when she arrived. Do you have any questions?"

"How much blood did she lose?" Hotch asked, nervous about the description of a left chest wound.

Dr Winters nodded before stating, "a fair amount because of where the injury is and the bullet is still imbedded. We are crossmatching her for a transfusion that she will receive if she needs it. If you don't have any other questions, could you sign these consent forms for her surgery" before placing forms on the table in front of Hotch.

He looked over the standard consent form before signing it. As he handed it back to her, he said, "if there are further updates or if you need anything while I'm in surgery, our colleague David Rossi can also give consent for her and me."

She picked up the signed forms and nodded as she said, "thank you agent. We'll take great care of her. I'll keep you updated." before walking back out of the room.

Just then his doctor walked back into the room and said, "Agent Hotchner, we will be taking you up to surgery in about 20 minutes. Is there anything I can get for you right now?"

Hotch sighed before nodding as he said, "yes, I need to talk to David Rossi. He is in the waiting room."

**####**

Hotch looked up as he heard, "Aaron, how are you?" to see Dave standing nervously in the door frame of the room.

Gesturing for Dave to enter, he did before closing the door and walking up to the side of Hotch's bed. Once he was there Hotch explained, "they are taking me up to surgery in a few minutes. Nothing serious. They just want to take a good look at the wound before stitching me up."

Dave nodded and said, "OK, good. Then we'll see you in a few hours."

Hotch stayed quiet before looking up at Dave and stating, "don't call Haley. I'll do it later."

He really did not want Haley at the hospital venting about the dangers of his job when he got out of surgery. Right now he needed to get through his surgery and then focus his energy on Emily. Haley wasn't expecting to hear from him for a few days about Jack's visitation anyway.

Dave nodded as he dreaded the thought of having to make that call to Hotch's ex-wife. "OK. Have you heard anything about Emily?"

Hotch looked over at the worried look on Dave's face before nodding as he explained, "yes, they just took her up to surgery. Her lung was collapsed when she arrived and they put a tube to help her breath better. There is an issue with her clavicle and shoulder but hey won't know how bad until they look at it in the OR. Her head will need stitches. She was still unconscious. They think she may need a transfusion because the bullet is still embedded. I told them to come to you if either of us need anything while I'm in surgery"

Dave was slowly pacing the room as she said sadly, "Oh bella." before pausing as he looked out the door to the room when he turned back he continued seriously, "I'll get the team and we'll go and each donate for her. I know that at least the kid and I have the same blood type as her. I'll take care of anything if it comes up Aaron."

"Thanks Dave." Hotch said before taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes as now that the immediate threat had passed, the pain from his wound was becoming more pronounced.

Noticing the lull before the staff came to get Hotch, Dave concluded that it was as good a time as any to clarify what Morgan had said at the apartment. "so Aaron." Dave starts before pausing as he waited for Hotch to look over at him which Hotch did as soon as he spoke, "you can not answer if you need to but I'm still going to ask…"

Hotch sighed before answering, "yes"

Dave asked softly, "how long have you two been married?"

Hotch sighed realizing that their secret was out though he had no idea how Dave had found out or if any of the others knew yet. In many ways he felt relieved that at least Dave finally knew. They had never planned on keeping it a secret for this long.

He looked right at Dave as he answered, "almost 6 months. In Vegas right before Henry was born. We were planning to tell all of you together the next day when we got home but…"

Dave's eyes widened as he remembered what had been going on within the team in the days following that case before murmuring, "...we all weren't there."

Hotch nodded before continuing, "yes, then Henry was born and we didn't want to take attention away from JJ and Will. Then Jordan kept asking intrusive questions and we honestly didn't trust her."

Dave nodded as he recalled the friction that Jordan caused before looked up at Hotch and saying, "but JJ has been back for 2 months."

Hotch nodded as he said, "I know. We planned at two gatherings to tell all of you but one JJ and Reid couldn't attend and the other was cancelled due to that case in Dallas. Then a couple of weeks ago we decided we needed to get a plan before telling anyone after the debacle in Forgery."

Dave shook his head when Hotch mentioned the situation in Forgery. The anti fraternization crackdown was an overcorrection that had already had a ripple effect across most departments. Since it started there had been a spike in resignations throughout the FBI leaving vacancies in several vital areas.

Focusing back on Hotch, Dave answered calmly, "but you still could have told the team. All of us would have supported both of you. Besides, the circumstances are entirely different. He was sexually harassing subordinates. You married one."

Hotch nodded as he explained, "we know Dave. However they are now tightly enforcing the anti-fraternization rules. And with Agent Smith, the whole team was reprimanded, demoted and reassigned because they knew and didn't report. We wanted to give all of you deniability if it came out. I guess it's not an if anymore. There is no way we can hide this."

Dave sighed as the whole picture came into view. They had wanted to tell the team but multiple factors outside their control had undermined their plans. Then they had been protecting the team.

Now Dave just hoped that they had a plan to protect themselves. The attack in their apartment definitely complicated their situation. Looking over at Hotch he said, "let me see what we can do. What is the plan?"

Hotch looked back to Dave as he answered honestly, "one of us was going to leave the team and then let it become public knowledge after whichever one of us was established in their new unit."

"Who was going to leave?" Dave asked anxiously, not wanting to imagine the BAU without either one of them.

Hotch shook his head before he said, "we haven't gotten that far. We were both looking at local openings. Like the whole team we have both been recruited by other departments. Emily didn't want me to leave the team but I'm not sure I want to stay without her. The hours contributed to the breakdown of my marriage with Haley. I don't want it to happen again. Emily understands the work but…"

Dave sighed as he listened to Hotch explained their dilemma as it was starting to sound as if the BAU was going to lose both agents. But reflecting on his own experience, he really couldn't blame them.

So he patted Hotch's shoulder as he finished where Hotch trailed off, "...it would still be a strain. I get it Hotch. I have three divorce decrees. You kids do what you need to for your marriage. The rest of us will support both of you in whatever you need."

Hotch looked up and said, "thanks Dave." as he noticed the sincerity on the face of the other profiler.

Before they could say anything else, two nurses walked into the room and one said, "OK agents. Sorry to break this up but it's time to go upstairs." as the other released the brake on the gurney. They quickly rearranged the cords before moving out of the room.

"I'll see you when you're done Aaron." Dave said as they wheeled him towards the elevator.


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

A short time later Garcia arrived at the hospital with JJ and Reid not far behind. As each of them arrived, Dave updated them about what Hotch had reported about both of their conditions as they all waited to donate the blood it was expected Emily would need.

As expected Rossi and Reid shared her blood type and their donations were labeled as directed specifically for her. Unexpectedly, Garcia did as well and her unit was labeled the same.

While JJ and Morgan's blood did not match, they donated regardless, knowing that the hospital would make good use of it with other patients.

Once they were all done and cleared to leave the lab, they checked in with the staff in the waiting room about if there were any updates on Hotch or Emily. Disappointed that there were none, Dave requested if they could use a private consultation room for a while. With it being a quiet night, a nurse showed them to one that was big enough for the five of them.

Just as they were getting settled, a call came into Dave's phone. As he hung up, he looked at the four worried faces across the table and said, "it's not about Hotch or Emily. I'll be right back. Morgan can you give me a hand?" Morgan nodded and they walked out the door.

Less than five minutes later, they returned with two large pizzas and drinks from a restaurant Dave knew was open all night and delivered. With having just donated blood after getting little sleep on their last case, Dave had called in the order while they were in the lab. He expected they would all need sustenance to make it through the coming hours and days.

Once all of them had eaten, Dave had them all sit back at the table. He needed to fill all of them in on part of what he and Hotch had discussed.

As much as he would have liked to have waited until they knew more about the conditions of Hotch and Emily, they needed to talk now. It wasn't going to be much longer before both Metro PD and the FBI approached them to ask questions about what happened. They needed to have this conversation before that happened.

After getting the attention of the group, Dave says, "OK everyone. I'm going to share some news with all of you BUT if I do you won't have the deniability that you do right now. If anyone would like to leave, please do so now."

The attention of everyone peaked immediately as they each continued to process what had happened. Looking around the table at each other, no one got up before each of them refocused back on Dave.

With each of them having made the decision that Dave had anticipated, he said deciding to just rip the bandage off, "OK, Hotch and Emily are married. Have been for about six months. Why they didn't say anything isn't personal to anyone here and is their story to tell."

He paused as they reacted to the news and started to whisper among themselves. He waved off questions and waited expectedly until they were ready to continue as he really needed them to hear what he was saying without being distracted, "now the deniability part. As I'm sure all of you have heard about the mandate from the new Director as well as what happened in the Forgery Department with Agent Smith. His team was also punished for not reporting what was occurring."

"So were they never planning on telling us." Garcia blurted out loudly as the others carefully observed Dave's reaction.

Dave shook his head before answering, "not at all. They were in the process of deciding which one of them was going to leave the team." He paused as gasps were heard across the room. The team didn't do well with change and learning this way about one of them leaving was a shock.

Once the group had settled, Dave continued, "they were going to tell us then and wait for it to be public until whichever one left was settled in a new position. They initially had hoped that if they could show that they could make it work without issue, the higher up would allow both to stay on the team. However recent events have made that unlikely, especially with how Strauss feels about the two of them. They truly didn't want their marriage to affect any of our careers."

The group quietly sat around the table until JJ asked, "so what do they need for us to do?"

"Help maintain their cover without compromising yourself." Dave answered.

Morgan looked up from the table and then said seriously, "Emily not entering the apartment at the same time as Hotch would be a good piece of information to point out. Though I don't know why she didn't it's probably why they are both alive right now."

"True. If they were a couple, you would expect them to enter together." JJ answering, nodding.

"Carpool? She went in to drop off something he forgot." Garcia answered hesitantly.

Dave smiled and nodded before saying, "good. JJ and Spencer, how did it go at the apartment?"

Reid looked around at the group before focusing on Dave and answering, "the forensics team are now done. They stuck mostly with the main areas of the apartment as well as the windows and doors. It was obvious that a woman lived there or visited but nothing that we saw pointed directly to Emily."

"So if he is seeing anyone, we don't know who because Hotch doesn't talk about his personal life." Morgan responded.

Before anyone else could say anything, there was a knock on the door a couple of seconds before the door opened and a nurse stuck her head into the room and said, "agents, the doctor will be out to talk to you in about five minutes."

"Thank you. We'll be right out." Dave responded to the nurse who nodded and stepped out closing the door behind her. After the door closed, Dave turned back to the group and said, "we'll talk more about this later."

After cleaning the room, the team left the room and went back to the main waiting room for the doctor to arrive. They were anxiously awaiting which of their colleagues they would hear about first.

Just then, the nurse pointed them out to a doctor in scrubs. After nodding he walked over to the group and when he reached them he said, "Hello Agents. I'm looking for Agent Rossi."

Dave stepped forward not surprised at the request as he was listed as one of the medical proxies for both Hotch and Emily as well as most of the others who were currently standing next to him. He replied, "I'm David Rossi. This is the rest of the team. Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of them."

The doctor looked at the group before nodding as he said, "OK. I'm the surgeon that worked on Aaron Hotchner. He did well during the procedure and is currently in recovery. The wound was largely superficial. There was some damage to the abdominal muscles however that will heal fully with time and physical therapy. He has a lot of sutures and will be very sore for a couple of weeks. There is also significant abdominal bruising but there is no reason he shouldn't make a full recovery.

He will be moved to a room in about an hour and you can each briefly visit after that time. As long as there are no complications, he can be discharged after two days of IV antibiotics and can just finish the course in pill form at home. Any questions?"

The group collectively relaxed before Dave replied, "no doctor thank you. Do you have any information on Agent Prentiss?"

The doctor shook his head before answering, "I don't other than she is still in surgery. I will ask someone from her surgical team to come update you when they can. A nurse will come get you when Agent Hotchner is settled in his room."

"Thank you." Dave said, shaking the doctor's hand before the team watched him go back through the doors into the surgical area.

The team sat back down on the chairs of the waiting room. Only a few minutes later that a man in scrubs came over to them and said, "family of Emily Prentiss."

Each member of the team stood up and stepped closer until they were in a semicircle around him as Dave said, "yes that's us."

He nodded before stating, "she is still in surgery but they asked me to come out and give you an update. Her lung has reexpanded and her oxygen levels are where we like to see them. Orthopedics is with her right now stabilizing her shoulder. They have already placed screws in her clavicle. The bullet was removed and given to the FBI forensics tech. She is receiving a 2nd unit of blood. Any questions?"

"Do you know how much longer she will be in surgery?" Derek asked anxiously.

Nodding he answered, "at least another hour. Then she will be in recovery before we move her to the ICU. Visiting hours won't start until 10AM."

"Thank you." the team answered collectively as he moved away from them and back towards the door he had come out.

After clearing his throat, Dave waited until he had everyone's eyes on him before he said, "OK, I'm going to suggest that after we see Hotch, the rest of you go home. We are all going on four days with very little sleep with a brutal case. Come back later this morning to see them. I'll call if anything changes."

"What about you Rossi?" Reid asked not looking completely convinced about the plan even as the fatigue covered his face.

Dave sighed before answering, "I'll stay here and keep Hotch company. After all of you come back, I'll go to the office and talk to Strauss. The team is off today so no one will be expecting us this morning."


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER 20**

Later, Dave was sitting by Hotch's bedside after sending the rest of the team home. A light tapping on the door roused him as he was starting to doze off. The door opened and two people in scrubs walked into the room.

As they looked at Hotch, one of them said, "Agent Hotchner, I'm Dr Winters. We met in the ER. I have been taking care of your wife. This is Dr James the orthopedic surgeon who operated on her."

"How is she?" Hotch asked groggily.

Dr Winters nodded before responding, "stabilized and in recovery at the moment. We will be moving her to the ICU shortly. As long as she stays stable, we can move her to a regular room tomorrow morning."

"How is her arm?" Dave asked cautiously having been in the apartment and heard the update earlier.

At that point, Dr James looked over at him and replied to both Dave and Hotch, "I placed a plate and two screws in her clavicle to stabilize the fracture there. Her shoulder was a much more complicated repair. I needed to place several plates and screws in the bones that surround the shoulder joint as well as several pins to hold the bones in their correct place while they start to heal. This was needed because the entire joint needed to be rebuilt as that is where the bullet did the most damage.

She has an immobilizer on her shoulder and arm that will restrict any movement. In a couple of weeks, we will take off the immobilizer and remove the pins before starting her on light PT and OT before progressing as she heals.

I'm not going to lie to you. It is going to be a long road to recovery for her. The next six to eight months are going to be crucial in her getting back as much function and flexibility as possible in her left shoulder."

"Months? Will she fully recover?" Hotch blurted out surprised as he attempted to comprehend what he was being told.

Dr James sighed before continuing, "I am hopeful but we won't know the extent of any permanent damage including any potential nerve injuries until at least two weeks from now when the swelling has diminished and I can have her start moving her arm.

In addition to the fractures and soft tissue injuries, the area where the bullet hit is also where the blood supply and nerves are for her arm. That is why she required several transfusions before we were able to control the bleeding. Early indications are that if there are any nerve issues, they will be minimal so we are optimistic. There is no reason to anticipate that she would not be able to do most normal daily activities once she has fully recovered as long as she takes her PT seriously.

However I will say that it is unlikely that she will regain the flexibility and strength needed to return to full field status. I know better than to tell an FBI agent it is impossible but you and Agent Prentiss both need to be prepared for that likely outcome and plan accordingly."

Hotch looked down shocked at the prognosis that he had just heard. He knew that being forced out of the field would devastate Emily given how much she loved their work. When he glanced over he could see a similar stunned look on Dave's face. Before he could say anything, Dave asked quietly, "does she know any of this yet?"

Dr Winters shook her head before answering, "no she hasn't regained consciousness yet. We did an MRI and the good news is that there is no brain swelling or a skull fracture from when she hit her head."

"What are the rest of her injuries?" Hotch asked.

Dr Winters responded, "we had a plastic surgeon close the laceration on her head from her fall so she should have minimal scarring. The chest tube is doing its job allowing her lung to reexpand and her oxygen levels have remained stable. We will take that out in a couple of days as long as no problems arise. She has now received three units of blood. We will assess in a couple of hours if she needs more."

"When will she wake up? You said her head was OK but she is still unconscious." Hotch asked frustration clearly in his voice.

After the report on her injuries and current status he wanted to be there with her. While he was upset that she hadn't woken up yet he was worried that when she did, no one would be there.

Dr Winters walked over to the other chair in the room and sat down looking at Hotch before calmly answering, "Emily's body has experienced a significant trauma. Her body is reserving energy to heal. I would anticipate her waking up in the next few hours as the anesthesia wears off though she may only be awake for short periods of time.

In addition to all her injuries, in general, women in the first trimester of pregnancy will fatigue more easily."

Hotch's eyes widened before he loudly blurted out, "she's pregnant?"

Dr Winters had a brief look of surprise cross her face before answering, "yes, it came up in the lab work we did before her surgery. You didn't know?"

Hotch shook his head feeling his anxiety rise before answering, "no."

Opening the chart she was carrying, Dr Winters took a small piece of paper out and handed it to Hotch before responding, "here is a copy of the ultrasound OB did in recovery. Everything looks good now but we will be keeping a close eye for the next few days. With the stress to her body, we are concerned about her miscarrying however there is no indication of that today. They estimated that she is about nine weeks. OB will do another ultrasound tomorrow morning."

Hotch focused on the ultrasound picture as she spoke. As he heard the plan, he looked up and stated, "I would like to be there."

She nodded as she answered, "of course, I'll make sure they know."

"When can I see her?" Hotch asked wanting to be out of this bed and with Emily.

Dr Winters stood up and answered, "I will call and let your nurse know when she is settled in her room."

"Thank you." Hotch answered as she and Dr James left the room and closed the door.

The room was quiet for several minutes as Hotch focused again on the ultrasound picture. He did not look up when Dave asked, "you didn't know?"

Hotch shook his head and quietly answered, "no and neither did she."

"Are you sure?" Dave questioned.

Hotch looked over at him and nodded his head before responding, "yes, she would have told me. She would have found an excuse to avoid going to Detroit. Twice. She was tired and seemed off a few times that I knew of but she mentioned it was stress about what we were going to do about our jobs."

Dave sighed and then nodded as he thought about how Emily would have reacted to the news. While she may not have taken herself immediately out of the field, she wouldn't have taken unnecessary risks. Her assignment in Detroit had been risky and she had willing gone twice.

Assessing just that piece of information he had to agree with Hotch that Emily hadn't known about her pregnancy. Dave nodded as he answered, "true. She wouldn't have taken that level of risk if she had known."

They sat in silence again before Dave looked at his watch after noticing the sunlight coming through the window. Turning to Hotch he said, "the kids should be back soon. I'm going to go to the office and talk to Strauss. I'll do what I can to distract her from Emily being at your apartment at 2AM without letting your secret out." He didn't want to leave before he saw that Emily was OK with his own eyes but dealing with Strauss needed to happen sooner rather than later.

Hotch nodded though dealing with Strauss wasn't at the top of his list of concerns right now. Nevertheless he did understand that it needed to be done and accepted Dave's offer to talk to her. "Thanks Dave."

Dave stood up and looked at him sternly before answering, "don't thank me yet Aaron. You need to decide soon what you want to do going forward."

Hotch nodded even more sure now what he wanted to do. Still holding the picture, he replied, "I know and I am certain of what I want to do but I want to talk to Emily before making it official."

Dave's stance and voice softened as he answered, "what are you planning?"

Hotch sighed before saying, "I'm going to leave the BAU. As I've looked at various options over the last couple of weeks, there have been some that are interesting. None are the BAU but I can't justify the hours and schedule anymore. In addition to Emily and now a baby, I have Jack. I have so little time with Jack now. And I don't want to lose Emily too to this job."

Dave relaxed and smiled at his words hoping that is the direction he would go after their talk in the ER. He had lived through what the BAU had done to his own marriages as well as the distress he had witnessed from Hotch when his marriage with Haley had broken down. As much as Emily understood the work more than his own ex-wives or Haley, with what happened this seemed like a good time to make a change.

Dave looked over and answered reassuringly, "you are making the right choice Aaron. Emily understands the job much better than Haley ever could. But you are right- her, Jack and the baby all need you. And from the sound of it, Emily is going to need a lot of help and support over the next few months as she recovers from her injuries. While pregnant."

Agreeing with Dave's assessment he answered, "she is. I need to take a leave of absence and go from there." Hotch nodded as he felt more certain of his decision. Transferring is what he needed to do. As soon as he spoke to Emily, he would start the process.

Dave watched as the determination came over Hotch's face, recognizing that now that he had made his decision it would be difficult to change it. But before he left, he wanted to go over how he saw the best path to proceed given the current circumstances, "can I make a suggestion if this is the path you and Emily decide to pursue?"

"Of course." Hotch replied.

Dave nodded before he said, "I will put in paperwork today for medical leave for both you and Emily as well as Derek taking over as interim unit chief as we discussed.

After talking to her, if you are going to leave the BAU, contact HR and request a sabbatical along with your intent to permanently step down as the BAU unit chief. You can at that point make your recommendation through them that Derek remain as the new Unit Chief. This will allow you to keep your SSA status and seniority as well as remove you from Strauss' chain of command. She will have less influence when you do come back in terms of where you go and in what position."

Hotch sighed and gave a small smile about Dave's suggestion on how to sidestep Strauss as that had been his greatest concern about how to transfer given what she had tried a couple of years earlier after suspending him. Looking over at Dave, he answered, "sounds like a plan. And with a sabbatical, I can always consult if needed depending on how Emily is recovering."


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21 **

Emily's first perceptions were of talking going on around her. As she focused on them, she realized that she recognized the voices. Then she concentrated on trying to open her eyes but finding her eyelids felt very heavy.

As she worked to convince her eyes to open, she could feel someone holding her right hand, rubbing circles on the top of it. She gave the hand a weak squeeze and then felt the circles stopped.

She could hear Aaron say as she felt a squeeze on her hand again. "Emily, open your eyes for me sweetheart."

From the other side of the bed she could hear Derek say, "come on Princess, we want to see those big brown eyes."

While her perceptions were still muted as she worked through the grogginess what Emily immediately noticed as Derek spoke was that he wasn't holding her hand or even touching her arm.

As she attempted to move her left arm she found that she couldn't move her hand. Or her arm. As she focused on it she could only feel a heavy pressure on it along with pain. But the pain did not stop her from trying to move it without success until it became searing as it shot down her arm bringing tears to her eyes.

As she tried to process the pain she could feel panic starting to creep in but she could not stop it. Why would her arm not move? Then she heard alarms start to go off around her and felt her panic increase further. The squeeze increased on her right hand and she could hear Aaron's voice but not the words he was saying.

Just as she could feel herself becoming overwhelmed and that the sounds and sensations around her were diminishing she heard JJ's voice right next to her ear. Closer enough that Emily could feel her breath on her ears. She heard JJ saying as she felt her hand soothing her hair, "Emily, you're safe now. We are all here and you are going to be OK. Wake up for us."

Pushing back from the sleep that was trying to pull her back under, Emily focused on opening her eyes. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she was able to blink before completely opening her eyes. When she did she was looking at the worried faces of Hotch, Derek and JJ standing around her.

She looked over at him when Derek patted her leg and said, "there you go, Princess. I'm going to let the nurse know you are awake." before walking out of the room.

After watching him leave, she looked anxiously at her husband and best friend before she said distressed, "my arm. Why can't I move my arm, Aaron? What happened?"

Hotch took a deep breath and answered reassuringly wanting to fill her in on what was going on while also attempting to help her stay calm, "you were shot in the shoulder Em. They did surgery and it needs to stay still as it starts to heal. It's going to take some time and a lot of work but it's going to be OK."

"Really?" she responded having just gotten a first look at the contraption on her arm.

Hotch nodded before saying, "yes. Estimate is PT starts in two weeks." He knew that there was so much more that he needed to share with her about what the doctor had said about her prognosis but now wasn't the time. He would need to in the next few days but not right as she was waking up.

Emily sighed before her eyes started to flutter before she answered sleepily, "oh good. I'm so tired."

Hotch squeezed her hand as he said, "don't go back to sleep yet, Em. The doctor wants to see you."

Emily's eyes popped open before she answered, "OK. I'll try. Talk to me. Tell me what the damage is."

Hotch took a deep breath and then answered, "you got shot in the left upper chest. It broke your collarbone and the bones around your shoulder. It also collapsed your left lung. After you were shot, you fell and got a gash on your head."

Emily looked at him in shock as she only had vague memories after she entered their apartment and saw Hotch lying on the floor bleeding, "crap. That would explain why it hurts to breathe."

There was a knock on the door just before it opened and then Derek quietly walked back into the room. He walked back over so he was back on her left side before saying quietly, "the doctor will be in soon to see you."

"Mmm, K." Emily replied as her eyes blinked and then closed.

Hotch squeezed her hand again and said, "don't go back to sleep yet, Em."

After her eyes popped open again, she looked over at her husband and asked, "OK. How are you Aaron? I was so scared when I came in and saw him leaning over you with a knife and you were bleeding. I thought he was going to kill you."

Hotch smiled before he responded, "no sweetheart. He stabbed me once. They did exploratory surgery and stitched up the wound. There was some damage to the muscles but that should heal over the next few weeks. No injury to organs or major blood vessels."

"Thank goodness." she answered not taking her eyes off him before then asking, "Foyet?"

Hotch nodded as he said, "you got him. We don't need to worry about him anymore."

Just then there was another knock on the door. When it opened Emily's nurse and the doctor covering for Dr Winters walked into the room. The doctor looked at the group and said, "sorry to break up the party, agents. I need to examine Ms Prentiss. Could all of you please wait outside?"

JJ and Morgan nodded before walking out of the room. Hotch glared at him letting this doctor know that he had no intention of leaving her.

**####**

After the doctor assessed her and he and the nurse left the room, Emily looked over at Hotch and asked, "why am I so tired?"

Hotch sighed as he remembered all that Dr Winters had explained when she came by to talk to him and Dave earlier that morning. Rubbing her hand he answered, "you lost a lot of blood. They have already given you four units of blood. Before you were shot, you were already overtired from that last case. It's going to be a long recovery."

Even through the fog that still surrounded her, Emily could tell that he was hiding something from her. Something about her. Focusing on him, she asked sternly, "what aren't you telling me Aaron?"

He sighed as he wasn't sure how she was going to take this news before answering, "they discovered something when they did your blood tests…."

Emily pulled her hand away from him as she interrupted, "oh my god, what is wrong with me Aaron? Am I sick? Is that why I've been so off recently?"

Hotch reached over and took back her right hand as he shook his head when he answered, "no, sweetheart. Not sick but it is part of the reason you haven't been feeling well. You're pregnant."

Now completely awake, Emily looked at him confused as she stated, "pregnant? How did that happen? Well not how, I know that but I'm on the Pill. I take it on time every day."

Hotch shrugged as he didn't know the answer either before replying, "I don't know that part except for it does have a failure rate even when taken correctly."

Emily quietly looked around the room. Looking at everything but him for several minutes before nervously asking as she stared at the door, "how do you feel about this Aaron? We've never really talked about having kids. At least not seriously."

Whether they planned it or not, their relationship was changing. His response to the question she just posed would determine the nature of that change for the future of their relationship. Because if they couldn't get on the same page on this topic, their future together was in jeopardy.

Hotch thought back to how he felt when he had seen Emily holding Henry in the office a few months back. How right it seemed to see her holding a baby. Reaching out, he put a finger under her chin and waited for her to turn to look at him.

When she did, he could see the uncertainty on her face. He smiled and then said softly, "I think it's a surprise but a welcome one. Yes we really haven't talked about kids but I've seen how great you are with Jack. You are going to be a wonderful mother. I'm looking forward to seeing a little Emily running around. How do you feel about it?"

With not ever really talking about having children of their own, he didn't know how she felt about this new development. He didn't want to get too excited until he heard how she felt about her pregnancy.

She smiled back at him and answered quietly, "It could be another little Aaron too. Jack looks just like you." She paused and sighed before continuing, "I don't know how I feel about it. I enjoy our time with Jack. It's just that I never saw myself married or having kids. But marrying you has been one of the best decisions I've ever made."

He smiled back at her, answering, "marrying you was one of my best decisions too." He paused before continuing, "Jack also likes spending time with you."

They quietly sat there holding hands before Emily whispered, "I'm scared."

Hotch ran his hand up and down her arm as he saw the signs that she was becoming overwhelmed with all that she had learned in the short time she had been awake. As he did, he said, "I know. But I'm going to be there every step of the way for you."

Emily looked over at him and asked, "is the baby… is the baby OK? With what happened?"

Hotch sighed having questioned the same thing earlier. He paused as he realized that he had something in his robe pocket that she should see. He pulled it out with his other hand before continuing after he handed her the small square piece of paper, "they did this ultrasound when you were in recovery and everything looked good at that point. From what they told me they can't say for sure what will happen. They want to monitor you closely for the next few days." While she was still looking at the picture he added, "the OB doctor will be in tomorrow to do another ultrasound."

Emily nodded without saying anything, her gaze not moving from the picture she was now holding. She looked up and over at him but before she could say anything, there was a knock at the door and Dave stuck his head in and asked, "are you two ready for visitors?"

Hotch and Emily looked at each other and nodded before Emily handed the picture back to Hotch. Just as he placed it in his pocket, the rest of the team walked into the room.


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER 22**

Later that evening, the team except for Emily were gathered in Hotch's room. Visiting hours in the ICU were over for the day so they all reluctantly needed to leave Emily. Her nurse promised to call if there were any changes in her condition. She was scheduled to be moved to a room on the same floor as Hotch early the next morning, so it would be the last night that no one could stay with her.

During the team's visit earlier, they had been asked to step out while the nurse changed the dressing on Emily's shoulder wound. The pain medicine that they gave her while it was being done made her sleepy and she fell asleep shortly after the nurse left the room.

With Emily asleep Dave had convinced Hotch to return to his room for some needed pain medication as well. As the team had been visiting Dave had noticed that he was trying to hide how much pain he was having from his own injuries. Morgan and Garcia had offered to stay in Emily's room so she wouldn't be alone when she woke up. They promised to call if there were any changes or she asked for him.

Meanwhile, JJ and Reid went to Hotch and Emily's apartment to pick up a few things for them. When he was at the office, Dave had spoken to the chief who had control over the scene about when they would release it. While they weren't willing to do that yet until some tests were back, Dave had negotiated that someone from the team could pick up some personal items as well as the go bags in the entryway. They had a list of what they should bring from the apartment anticipating that Hotch and Emily would be more comfortable having their own personal items.

When Reid and JJ returned, they stopped by Hotch's room to drop off his bags and found both Hotch and Dave asleep. Earlier in the day while Dave was at the BAU, JJ had arranged to have a cot moved into Hotch's room for whoever was staying at the hospital at night. They planned on asking for one for Emily's room as well as soon as she was moved out of the ICU and into a regular room.

Not wanting to wake them, JJ and Reid went to Emily's room to drop off her bags excited to find that she was awake. The group talked for a few minutes keeping the conversation light before Morgan and Garcia excused themselves to go to the cafeteria for lunch. Spencer, JJ and Emily continued their visit until Emily fell asleep a short time later. Spencer and JJ talked quietly after she dozed off, not wanting to wake their brunette colleague.

They hushed the new arrivals when the door opened and Dave entered with Hotch. Spencer quickly stood and offered the chair next to the bed to Hotch which he gratefully took. Once they were settled, Dave explained to them about being woken in Hotch's room by an angry Strauss. Apparently, she had tried to visit Emily first and was refused access.

Dave shared with JJ and Reid that he was worried that an unexpected visit would happen after his meeting with Strauss earlier at the FBI building. However even he didn't think she would come this soon.

When he had returned to the hospital that morning and discussed with Hotch what happened at the meeting with Strauss, Hotch had talked to the hospital staff and requested that Emily's visitors be restricted to just the members of the team. Because of the complications of their situation, the staff was to just state that the restriction was at the request of her family without specifying who had made the request.

Having gotten that message when she arrived and requested Emily's room number, Strauss had come to the room without visitor restrictions and woke up both Hotch and Dave.

When she had started to question Hotch about what had happened, Dave intervened and stated he already told her what happened. That Hotch wouldn't know the answers to her questions such as how Foyet got into his apartment when even Metro PD and the FBI were still trying to figure out the answer to that question.

Apparently the noise level increased enough that Hotch's nurse came in and asked her to leave as Strauss was upsetting her patient. When Strauss balked, the nurse said she could leave or that security would be called.

Strauss stated before she walked out that she would be back. However once Hotch talked to HR about stepping down from the BAU and taking a sabbatical, Strauss wouldn't have authority to question him any longer.

Given the prognosis of Emily injuries, she was on extended medical leave which already had her out of Strauss' chain of command. The FBI would continue its investigation but Strauss wouldn't be directly involved.

When Dr James came in to check on Emily, the team left her and Hotch with promises to come back later. During the doctor's visit, he explained what had happened during the surgery on her shoulder and what the recovery would look like as well as his prognosis including the need to most likely move away from field work.

Hotch had stayed to visit with her privately as they processed the news until she fell back to sleep. After she fell asleep, Dave had convinced him to return to his room again for some needed pain medication. Morgan, Garcia, Reid and JJ had all promised to take turns with Emily so she wouldn't be alone when she woke up again. They continued that until visiting hours were over.

Now that they were together minus Emily, the team was hoping for some answers on the newly revealed status of their two colleagues.

"So, let's confirm here- you and Prentiss are married?" Morgan asked, addressing the elephant in the room.

"Yes." Hotch replied, nodding.

"When?" Garcia asked not knowing when recently they had had the time.

Hotch sighed before answering, "Vegas. In November. I proposed after the team dinner that last night."

Morgan and Dave exchange a look across the room, remembering their conversation about a man being in Emily's room the next morning. Now they knew that it must have been Hotch.

JJ smiled as she remembered the plane ride home with both of them the next day.

"And you got married that same night?" Reid asked skeptically.

"Yes." Hotch responded.

"Wow" JJ answered.

"Really." Reid said.

"I never thought the day would come." Garcia chuckled

Hotch looked at the group before blurting out annoyed, "is it really that hard to believe that we would get married."

Morgan looked over at him and answered seriously, "get married. Not at all. Elope. Yes. Make the decision to elope the same day you decide to get married. Hell yes."

The rest of the group laughed. "Yeah, I didn't think that the two of you had it in you." Dave chimed in having been quiet until now.

"Neither of you are known for making spontaneous decisions especially in your personal lives." JJ continued.

Hotch nodded his head understanding the accuracy of their words before responding, "true. But once we made the decision, we didn't want to wait any longer. And it was Vegas so we didn't have to."

"So Captain My Captain, were you and raven-haired beauty ever going to tell us?" Garcia asked and while her words were playful, her expression was serious, hurt even.

Hotch took a deep breath and started to explain the various delays to the team finding out. "It was never our intention to keep the news from all of you. We just wanted to tell all of you together. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

The room was quiet for a few minutes while the team processed all of what Hotch had just said. But before any of them could respond, Hotch continued, "now, if any of you are upset or angry with us for any reason having to do with our marriage I want you to come to me. Not Emily."

He paused and made eye contact with each person before sternly continuing, "she is going to have a very challenging recovery ahead. She is going to be dealing with the likelihood that her days in the field are over because of the severity of her injury. And she is going to have all of that over her while she is pregnant. She is going to need support and positive energy not criticism and complaints. She is going to need her friends."

There were gasps throughout the room as Hotch dropped two more bombshells on them. While all of them knew that the injury was serious, only Dave knew before now just how severe it was. The somber mood from that news was only offset by the other piece of information Hotch had shared.

"She's pregnant?" Garcia asked, a smile growing on her face.

As the team began to share their congratulatory message with Hotch, Morgan stood up and yelled, "what the hell, Hotch? How could you have assigned her to go to Detroit with me if you knew she was pregnant?" Hotch shook his head and while taken off guard, he was not surprised by Morgan's reaction given the close friendship between him and Emily.

Looking over at the other agent, he answered calmly, "I didn't know. I didn't find out until after her surgery. And she didn't know either. She was as surprised as I was when I told her after she woke up. She thought the symptoms she was having were due to the stress of what was going on with our jobs and what that would mean for the BAU and the team."

Morgan sighed before sitting back down and mumbling, "sorry Hotch."

Hotch shook his head before answering, "it's OK Derek. I'd rather it be directed at me than her."

They talked for a short time with Garcia excitedly talking about the new BAU baby. No one corrected her, including Hotch that Emily almost certainly wouldn't be going back to the BAU. As he noticed the others coming to that conclusion, he didn't have it in him to tell them now that after talking to Emily earlier, he definitely would be leaving the BAU as well. He would give it a day or two before telling them though it would be before he called HR to make it official.

When Dave noticed the fatigue growing on everyone's face, he suggested that everyone head home. Hotch looked as if he was going to fall asleep at any time. The others weren't far behind not having had much time to recover after their last case.

As the others milled around as they prepared to leave, Morgan told Dave to go. He said he would stay with Hotch and be available if anything came up with Emily. After Dave received Morgan's assurance that he would call if there were any changes, he left along with the others as Hotch and Morgan settled in for the night.


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: Thanks to all of you for your support of this story. I appreciate it.**

**I wanted to address a couple of comments:**

**SouthunLady- no worries there won't be a miscarriage. I've had 3 so really don't have the stomach to write that outcome. The baby will be born in chapter 29**

**rmpcmfan- Hotch leaving will be a blow for the team. In the moment he is making what he thinks is best for his family. In a few chapters will make changes in his visitation with Jack. Things will get worse for the BAU. But that will prompt changes that will lead to things getting better that will be described in the epilogue.**

**CHAPTER 23**

Around noon the next day, JJ walked down the hall of the hospital towards Emily's room. After a good night, as promised, she was moved out of ICU earlier that morning. Her new hospital room was now on the same floor as Hotch.

She was relieved that she as well as the remaining members of the team didn't need to go into the BAU for the foreseeable future. As a result of the attack, the team had been automatically placed on leave pending the conclusion of an investigation. Once that was complete and they were back in the office, they would be off rotation for field cases.

Each of them was going to be required to have three visits with the Bureau psychologists. They would only consider putting them back on rotation if everyone was cleared after those three visits.

This was a hurdle that the team generally hated and they would attempt to rush the sessions to gain their clearances as soon as possible. But this time, they weren't in a big hurry.

With not being expected in the office and given that both of her friends were doing well, JJ took a couple of hours before arriving at the hospital to shop for a few items that after picking up items from the apartment yesterday she thought Emily and Hotch would appreciate.

For Hotch, she brought a couple more pairs of the athletic shorts that she knew he wore when working out. With his stab wound and incision, it seems that they would be more comfortable short term than the jeans and suit pants that mostly made up his wardrobe. Everything else he had asked for she had brought the day before.

For Emily, she had gotten a few shirts with various front closures for her to wear once her arm was taken out of the immobilizer. For now, JJ had some button up shirts similar to a dress shirt but made out of a stretchy material that were big enough to accommodate her arm secured to her torso as well as the immobilizer. Along with that a few pairs of knit pants so she didn't have to try and navigate buttons, snaps or zippers with one hand.

For the couple, JJ had stopped at a baby store where she and Will had done a lot of their shopping for Henry. As a new parent herself and learning the role their thoughtfulness around the time of Henry's birth had in the delay of the team finding out about their marriage, JJ wanted to do something special for them. With all of the chaos going on as well as the significant unknowns, she didn't want to wait to acknowledge the newest member of the BAU family.

While she knew from experience that Garcia would soon be giving them lots of gifts, JJ had two in particular that she wanted them to have. From her. The first was a baby book. When JJ had walked up to the baby books, this one had immediately jumped out to her as being right for Hotch and Emily. The second was a small stuffed animal that was the same brand as one of Henry's favorites but a different animal so there was no confusion later between the two kids.

When she walked into Emily's room, she noticed that Spencer was alone in the room with Emily who was close to tears. As she entered the room and closed the door, Spencer gave her a look that clearly said, 'help'. Walked up next to the bed, JJ leaned into Emily right side and gently hugged her. During the hug, Emily bursted into tears as Reid quietly slipped out of the room.

After holding her friend as she cried for a couple of minutes, JJ moved back and handed Emily a tissue. After watching her wipe her eyes, JJ softly asked, "what's wrong?" as all sorts of possible problems crossed her mind.

Emily sighed before answering, "I don't know how to do this Jayje. Our apartment is still a crime scene. Aaron is being discharged tomorrow and I'll be discharged in three days and I have no idea where we are going. Strauss is lurking around somewhere. I still need to give statements about what happened but I don't even want to think about it. My shoulder is completely fucked up and will never be the same again. I don't have a job, at least not one I can actually do anymore. I am pregnant and didn't even know it. In a few months I'm going to have a baby and don't even know if I'll be able to hold him or her. How can I take care of a baby when I can't take care of myself?"

JJ nodded her head empathetically. Pregnancy hormones. It seemed as if even the strongest could become overwhelmed by them. And Emily was dealing with much more than most right now. What she had been through over the last couple of days would have shaken most people.

Sitting down on the bed next to Emily, JJ took her right hand and waited until Emily was looking at her before saying, "you go forward. One day at a time. One hour at a time if you need to. We are working on a plan for housing once both of you are released. Dave is running interference with Strauss. Yes you and Hotch will need to make statements but not today. Wait to see what the doctor says about your shoulder in a couple of weeks, it may heal better than expected. You are on medical leave right now so table the work issue until you have more information. I didn't know I was pregnant right away either. You are going to be a wonderful mother, Emily. I told you two years ago I could see you with kids and that hasn't changed. You will be able to hold your baby. You still have your right arm. I will help you find a carrier or sling that works for you. You aren't alone with all of this."

Emily nodded as JJ spoke then took a deep breath before answering, "I know. It's just so much has happened. I was going home to go to bed after that horrible case to find that there was a psychopath in our apartment who wanted to kill both Aaron and I. Next thing I remember I'm here and since then it's been one news bombshell after another."

"What happened today, before I came in?" JJ asked.

Emily gulped before wiping her eyes again before she answered, "lunch. I can't cut my food. Spencer had to help and I hate it. Do you know how long it has been since I needed help feeding myself? I don't because I don't remember that far back. And that is just on top of needing help with everything from getting washed up to taming my hair to getting up to use the bathroom."

JJ sighed and suddenly wished she had arrived earlier at the hospital. This reaction to her current condition really shouldn't have surprised any of them given how much Emily valued her independence. "Emily I understand that it's frustrating you. You are used to being independent. For years now you have helped each one of us out countless times. Can you let us help you for a while? You will get back to doing all those things yourself but for now please let us help you. We don't want you to accidentally hurt yourself."

Emily sighed and nodded before tearily answering, "I'll try but that's not easy for me. It's been hard enough adjusting to letting Aaron do things for me since we got married. I can't guarantee I won't get cranky about it at times."

JJ smiled as she nodded with no question in her mind that grumpy Emily would be making repeated appearances over the coming weeks and months. "Understood. Do you want to see a couple things I bought for you?" JJ asked trying to pivot into another topic.

"Sure." Emily replied before JJ took the baby book out of the bag and placed it in Emily's lap. As she turned the pages, Emily looked up at her and said, "Jayje, It's beautiful."

"I thought of it after Hotch mentioned how much you were looking at the ultrasound pictures. This one just seemed right for you. You and Hotch can fill in as much or as little as you want." JJ explained.

"Thank you." Emily said before continuing to page through the book.

After watching Emily look through the baby book, JJ said, "And this is the second baby item I got for you." as she took the stuffed giraffe out of the bag and handed it to Emily.

With the first smile JJ had seen in days from her best friend, Emily responded, "I love it."

"Henry has the one as well only an elephant. This way the kids won't get them confused." JJ explained the choice.

Before Emily could respond, the door opened. A worried Hotch walked into the room carefully assessing Emily followed by Dave and Spencer a few steps behind him.

"Hey, Hotch. Come on in." JJ said quickly got up from where she was sitting on the bed so Hotch could sit on the chair next to the bed. As he sat down she explained, "we were just talking and I shared with Emily a couple of gifts I got both of you for the baby."

Hotch looked over at her surprised as he settled in the chair. He had been worried and came over quickly when Reid came into his room and said that Emily was upset and he had come as soon as JJ had arrived.

Looking at her now, he could see that she had been crying however also seemed to be in better spirits. He glanced at the baby book and stuffed giraffe sitting on Emily lap before looking over at JJ and saying, "Thanks JJ." not just for the gifts but for helping Emily.

JJ nodded before walking to the other bags she had arrived with as she answered, "of course. I also did some shopping this morning for both of you."

After she went through a couple of bags, she pulled out the shorts and handed them to him as she said, "Hotch, I got you a couple more pairs of shorts. I thought they would be more comfortable for now while your incision heals."

Hotch immediately noticed that they were the same ones he kept in his workout bag. He nodded agreeing that they would be more comfortable because having anything right now on his abdomen was painful. Looking over at her he said, "Thanks JJ. It will be."

"And Emily a couple of things for you." She went to another bag and took out a few shirts explaining, "first some shirts for the next couple of weeks that will fit over the immobilizer." After handing them to Emily, she pulled another pile out of a different bag as she said, "then these are a few different kinds of front closure shirts for you to try once the immobilizer is off."

"Thanks JJ. I can't wait to try them." Emily said as she looked at the shirts.

JJ nodded and responded, "let me know which ones you like and I can get more. I thought the front closure would work better than a shirt that needed to go over your head for a while. Then in this bag are some knit pants so you don't need to try to do snaps, zippers or buttons with one hand." She explained as he pointed to the last bag.

Emily smiled as she responded, "that will be awesome." She had been dreading needing to have someone help her use the bathroom for the foreseeable future. As much as she loved the guys on the team, there was no way she was ever going to feel comfortable having them help her in the bathroom. At least with knit pants, she could manage herself.

"You're both welcome. I'm going to give you two some time for yourselves. I'll check back later." JJ said and she hugged them both and walked out of the room. Taking her lead Dave and Spencer excused themselves and came out as well.

Spencer thanked JJ before excusing himself. As she and Dave watched him walk down the hall, Dave asked worriedly, "is she OK JJ?"

JJ looked over at him and smiled before answering, "yeah she'll be fine. A lot has happened over the last couple of days and her world has just turned on it's side. Plus she's contending with pregnancy hormones."

"What did you tell her?" Dave asked.

"Let us help. That she has always helped the rest of us. For once, let us help her. I also think that it is just starting to hit her the full impact of what happened." JJ explained.

"What are her worries?" Dave asked.

JJ sighed before answering, "I think the biggest one is a loss of independence. It's one thing to decide to give some of it up when you are with someone in a relationship. It is another to have it taken from you because you are physically unable to do things for yourself.

Other than that she doesn't want to think about what happened and knows she still needs to give statements, what to do about work, how is she going to manage with a baby.

But the time sensitive one is what are they going to do when they are discharged?

I've addressed most of her concerns but I don't think that this will be the only meltdown she'll have."

Dave nodded as she explained not surprised about the reason for Emily's sudden emotional breakdown nor JJ's assessment that it wouldn't be the last given what the doctor had said about the challenges for her recovery.

He sighed before filling JJ in on what he and Hotch had been working on when Reid had come to find them, "well hopefully Hotch is telling her what we decided about living arrangements.

The detective stopped by earlier and they found out how Foyet got into the apartment. Apparently he just walked up to the super and said he was there to do work on their apartment and the man just gave him the key without verifying anything." Dave explained feeling his anger rise again as he did.

JJ looked at him seriously as she responded, "please tell me you are joking."

Dave sighed and shook his head as he sadly answered, "I wish I was. The super was fired but Hotch still doesn't feel comfortable going back there even once they release the scene.

But since neither is in any condition to be moving or even looking for a new place right now, they are going to come stay with me. I have a guest room with an ensuite on the main floor that they can use. I also have a good option that we can set up for Jack to use as well.

As soon as they clear the apartment which the detective said will be in the next day or so, we'll arrange to get all of their stuff moved out. Hotch will make a list about what will go to storage vs what will come to the house.

They are welcome to stay with me as long as they need. It will give them time to recover before they need to even consider looking for a new place without having to stay in a hotel."

"Sounds great but two requests." JJ answered

"Yes." Dave asked curiously.

JJ sighed before saying, "one don't try to do everything for Emily. Let her do as much as she is physically able to do."

Dave nodded as he said, "OK, but I will step in if I feel she is going to hurt herself. And the second…"

JJ nodded at his qualifier before continuing, "foods that can easily be managed and eaten with one hand. Don't make a big deal out of it but it will help her feel better about her situation if she doesn't need someone to cut her food."

Dave nodded as he now had a better understanding of what happened at lunch with Reid, "understood."


	24. Chapter 24

**CHAPTER 24**

Three days later Emily was discharged from the hospital with a lengthy list of instructions. As she was wheeled out, she was relieved to finally be leaving however she could feel her anxiety grow about all of the next steps.

What she wanted to do more than anything right now was to go home, get on her comfortable pajamas and pour a glass of wine before curling up with a book or listening to music while she attempted to process everything that had happened in the last five days.

While she hadn't had anything like this happen before, at other times when she was feeling overwhelmed, she just needed time and space by herself. But since she had woken up in the hospital, she hadn't had more than a few minutes to herself. Other than getting upset when Spencer helped her with her lunch, she had for the most part been able to convince the team that she was doing well. Or at least thought she had.

She loved the team and was grateful for everything they had done for her and Aaron over the last few days but right now she just wanted to try to cope in a familiar way.

By the time they arrived at Dave's house, she was tired and in pain from the car ride. Once he gave her a brief tour of the house, she excused herself to lie down for a bit. With some effort, she was able to get comfortable on the bed; however, she found that she could not settle her mind.

It wasn't long until she felt tears falling down her cheek that were quickly followed by sobs. She didn't know how much time passed before she felt a hand on her hip. When she looked up she saw the worried face of her husband who she hadn't heard enter the room. He walked around to the other side of the bed, carefully laying down before slowly moving towards her.

When he grimaced when one of his sutures pulled, Emily cried out, "no don't. I'm fine. Don't hurt yourself more." before starting to cry harder.

Hotch continued to ease himself over on the bed until he was next to her. He moved his arm up and helped her settle her head on his chest and ran his hand carefully up and down her back while trying to avoid her left shoulder and arm. He remained quiet as he felt her tears begin to create a wet area on his shirt.

After several minutes, Hotch began to wonder if she had fallen asleep when he heard her quietly say, "I came in here because I just wanted to be alone. I know I can't but I want to go home and curl up with a glass of wine and a book."

"What's wrong?" Hotch asked, having tensed at the statement. Just about everything she just said worried him. She had been trying to cut herself off even from him for the last couple of days. She wanted to go back to that apartment when it had taken two tries to give her statement of what happened that night. And then there was the wine...

He was pulled out of his thoughts when she stated, "it's my fault that you got hurt."

Hotch's eyes widened as some of her recent behavior suddenly made sense. Moving so he could see her face he answered firmly, "What? Emily. No. It's not your fault. It's Foyet's fault. He is the one that attacked us. If there is anyone else to blame it is the super for giving him the key."

Emily took a few deep breaths before explaining, "but when I came up to the door, I heard you and Foyet arguing. I can't help wondering if I would have come in earlier you won't have been stabbed. I was a coward."

Hotch shook his head as he answered, "never. Emily I have known you for almost three years and a coward is not a word that I would ever use to describe you. You did the right thing. You stopped and called for help. If you would have rushed in we most likely would have been in a worse position because we wouldn't have had back up on the way. What if Foyet would have injured or killed both of us and escaped? He would still be out there hurting people. You calling Morgan and getting people on the way is what saved your life as the ambulance arrived less than five minutes after you were shot."

As he answered Hotch could feel his own anxiety rising. He remembered hearing both guns fire followed by Emily not answering him. He had been preparing to try to move over to her when Morgan and Dave entered the apartment not sure what he was going to find when he would have gotten to her. The what ifs about if she had not made that call kept circling around in his head.

"But I should have come in as soon as I let Morgan know what was going on?" Emily added.

Hotch sighed as he thought particularly given what happened, he would have preferred that she hadn't come in at all. He would have gladly have taken more stab wounds if it meant that she wouldn't have been hurt.

But he couldn't tell her that. She had come in to back him up and was paying a heavy price for the action. He wouldn't take anything away from that sacrifice by questioning if she should have. "Emily don't second guess yourself. We all saw in Boston what Foyet could do. You didn't underestimate him."

He had been worried about Foyet getting too close to her since they were heading to Boston weeks earlier. Even after the escape from police custody, Hotch hadn't expected for Foyet to ambush him in their home. Even in retrospect, it scared the crap out of him as they could have just as easily had Jack there as well.

Putting those thoughts aside, Hotch continued, "you know you aren't alone for your recovery. If you need some time to yourself, let me know but I'll always come back to you."

Emily nodded before answering, "yes. I wish we could go home…" She didn't want to go back to the apartment per se. Honestly even thinking about going back there freaked her out.

She wanted to go back to the place where they had spent the majority of their married life together. Back to the bubble they had lived in for almost six months. But the bubble had burst and that home no longer existed.

"...but neither of us feels safe there anymore. We will find a new home when we are both feeling better." Hotch answered before pausing. He then asked, "are you really OK with staying here? I'm sure Dave will understand if you want us to go somewhere where it is just us."

However Hotch was very sure Dave would not understand if they decide to go somewhere else at this point. The doctors had wanted them to stay with someone because of the nature of both of their injuries. It had been Dave's reassurance to Emily's doctors about them staying with him that had gotten her released from the hospital today instead of a couple of days from now as they had been proposing.

Emily shook her head as she answered, "no we can stay here. It's just that is how I generally work through everything when I'm feeling this way. I know it's not practical right now to be off by myself which is just making me more anxious."

Hotch sighed in relief that she was OK with staying as he said, "yes. This time we are both going to need to work on a different way. But we'll do it together."

"Yes together." Emily answered as she curled closer into his side.

As they laid there, Hotch knew there was one more topic he needed to bring up and hoped that it didn't upset her again but it needed to be addressed, "Emily I understand you are limited right now and I don't want to add more…"

Emily interrupted, "...I'm not going to have the wine Aaron. I want to but I don't want to add anymore risks for the baby. He or she has already made it through so much. It's not worth the potential risk."

Hotch nodded as that had been his mindset as well. With that off the table he decided to mention, "I do happen to know that when Dave went to the store he got chocolate ice cream for you. I'm sure he would make a milkshake for you if you'd like." It was one of her favorite treats though one she didn't indulge in often.

Emily chuckled before answering, "now that I will do. But not now. All of the sudden, I'm really tired."

Hotch leaned over and kissed her forehead as he said, "later then. Go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

**####**

Hotch stayed and tried to relax as Emily slept. While he had picked up that she was upset the last couple days she was in the hospital, he didn't realize that she had been blaming herself for what happened to him.

He had battled with blaming himself as well, especially after he learned of Emily's prognosis as well as her struggling to come to terms with the news. Dave had noticed it the day he was discharged and had called him out.

Just like in Boston months ago, talking through his feelings of guilt with Dave had helped him. He was able to admit that Foyet was the one to blame for what happened to them. That he shouldn't have needed to worry about clearing his apartment when he got home that night or any night.

But even after talking to Dave, he was angry. The team had caught Foyet. Arrested him after Shaunessy's decision 10 years earlier had allowed him to remain free. But then he had escaped. Evaded being found until that night five days ago.

While Foyet was the one to ambush them, that didn't excuse the actions of the apartment building staff. There was a very shortlist of people who were supposed to have access to their apartment when Hotch and Emily weren't home. The name Foyet gave, Peter Rhea, wasn't on that list. It would have been somewhat more understandable if he had used Morgan's credentials which had been discovered on his body but that wasn't the name listed on the work log.

But that breach of trust of the building staff had him and Emily needing to move at a time when both of them were physically unable to do that type of work. It upset him more to learn that those actions were causing further distress to Emily when she was already dealing with so much.

Before he could get too worked out again, he felt Emily starting to rouse. He didn't want her to see him angry and misinterpret that it was directed towards her.

When her eyes fluttered open, she looked around before looking up at him giving him a shy smile before saying, "hey"

"How are you feeling?" Hotch asked.

Emily sighed before answering, "better. I'm sorry."

Hotch shook his head as he responded, "don't be. I'm glad you told me what was bothering you. Do you want to stay here or are you ready to get up?"

"I should get up." Emily answered as she tried to turn over in the bed to sit up. This was the first time she was attempting to get out of a non-hospital bed since her injury.

"OK, give me a minute and I'll give you a hand." Hotch moved back towards the side of the bed before slowly sitting up, ignoring the soreness in his core. After standing up, he walked over to the other side of the bed and put out his hands for Emily to grab onto and pull herself up.

Once she was standing, Hotch held her close in case the dizziness she had been experiencing came back. When she signaled that she was ok, they walked out of their temporary room. On their way towards the kitchen, they found Dave coming in from outside with his dog.

When he saw them, he asked, "how are you doing kiddo?" He had been with Hotch when they heard her crying earlier.

After Hotch had gone into check on her, Dave had sent the rest of the team home after Derek helped him move the recliner from his office into the sunroom.

He had noticed for the last couple of days that she had been curling in on herself. It wasn't clear to him if it was a specific issue or the entire situation. He had been hoping that she would talk to one of them when she was ready and if appearances were correct, she had talked with Hotch.

Emily nodded, answering, "OK. I took a nap."

Before Dave could answer, Hotch interjected, "I mentioned to Emily that you have some of her favorite chocolate ice cream."

Dave looked up and smiled as he said, "I do. Would you like it in a bowl or a milkshake?"

As part of her discharge instructions, the doctor and then a nutritionist had come in to talk to her and Hotch. Because they were staying with Dave and he stated he would be doing most of the cooking for the foreseeable future, he had been invited as well.

They reviewed the additional nutritional requirements for her pregnancy. It included an explanation that her body would support the pregnancy first and if her nutritional needs aren't being met, it was her body that would be shortchanged.

In her case, they went on to explain that particular fact was relevant because if she was short changing herself nutritionally, her body wouldn't have the building blocks needed to heal from her injuries. This would be to the detriment of her own recovery.

After getting a copy of the lists, Dave had gone through it choosing foods he knew Emily liked and made sure he had plenty of those choices in the house.

"A milkshake please." Emily answered.

Dave gestured for them to follow him to the kitchen. Once there he said, "why don't you two get comfortable at the table. Aaron, can I get you anything?"

Hotch shook his head before Dave walked into the kitchen and went to work while Hotch helped Emily get settled at the table.


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER 25**

JJ was driving Hotch back to Dave's after picking him up after his follow up visit with the surgeon and having all of his sutures removed. The visit had gone as expected. He was cleared for most light activities however he was cautioned to take it slow as his abdominal muscles were still healing. He could return to work in two more weeks however Hotch still wasn't sure when he was going to take that step as Emily follow up appointment with her surgeon was for another couple of days.

As he looked out the window, he thought about the changes that had happened over the last couple of weeks. How central work had been to his life for so long. But since they started staying with Dave, he hadn't thought too much about work. He had been recovering from his own injuries as well as helping Emily navigate life with only being able to use one arm. It had been rocky at the beginning but somewhere along the line, they had gotten into a routine. And the routine had helped ease Emily's anxiety.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as JJ parked in Dave's driveway. When they both reached the front door, they entered the quiet house. They found Emily and Spencer in the sunroom playing chess.

At least one person from the team came over each day to visit. Dave had requested soon after Emily was released from the hospital to his house that not everyone came over everyday. That request was made after he and Hotch discussed what upset her the day she came to the house. Her discharge instructions were to rest and relax as much as possible. They knew she wouldn't be able to do that if there was a houseful of visitors everyday.

The team understood and made up a visit schedule. They each found something that they could do with Emily where she would only need one hand. With Reid, it had consistently been chess while with Garcia it was Go. After finding something to hold the cards, Emily and JJ had taken to playing poker while when Derek was there they liked to watch the adventures of the Amazing Race. Hotch would sometimes stay and visit as well though most days he would wait until Emily was napping to visit with their friends.

Additionally Dave was planning to have everyone over for dinner so they could all catch up and visit together.

Today Spencer had come over to keep her company while Hotch was at his appointment. When they entered the room, Emily looked up and asked, "did everything go OK?"

Hotch nodded, "all the suture are out. I need to slowly increase activity while the muscles completely heal. But otherwise everything looks good."

Emily nodded but attention was interrupted when JJ asked, "Em are you almost ready to go?" They needed to leave in about 15 minutes to go to Emily's hair appointment. She was certain that her best friend would not have asked Spencer for help getting ready.

Emily nodded and then answered, "yes, Aaron helped me earlier. I can be ready when you are."

The group talked for a few minutes before Emily left with JJ. A short time later they arrived at the salon for Emily's appointment.

It was the third time that they had come here. It all started a couple of days after Emily was released from the hospital. Her hair had been a mess. Between being in a hospital bed and then resting at the house, it had become a tangled mess that neither Hotch nor Dave had any idea how to help with. When Dave had looked at the collection of hair care products that JJ had packed, he didn't know where to start.

At that point it had been over a week since she had been able to wash it and her scalp was becoming itchy. Complicating things was that Emily couldn't get in the shower or tub as she couldn't get the immobilizer wet. Trying to lean forward or backwards to wash her hair proved painful for her healing clavicle. Dave had almost been at the point of asking Derek to lie her on the kitchen counter so they could wash her hair in the sink.

That is when Garcia suggested going to the salon where they had done their last girls' day out months earlier. She recalled that they had a special shampoo station for people with neck issues that reclined to almost horizontal over a shampoo sink. After making a quick phone call and explaining the situation, Emily had an appointment later that afternoon.

Garcia and Hotch had gone to the appointment with her and stayed. When it was her turn, Hotch sat next to her and held her right hand while Garcia was on her left side ready to support her shoulder if needed. As the stylist slowly reclined the chair, the setup worked as expected in not stressing her shoulder. The stylist then washed her hair while carefully avoiding the healing cut on her forehead. Since Emily was comfortable, she then went on to do a scalp massage before finishing.

With that done, the stylist took her to a semi private pod that had more space so Garcia and Hotch could stay with her. After discussing the situation, Emily agreed with the suggestion to have her hair placed into two French braids. The stylist had first twirled small areas of hair and then used these sections to form the braids. The explanation being that it would hold better in her current situation without needing to make the braids tight and potentially uncomfortable to lie on.

While Garcia stayed with Emily while the braids were being put in, another stylist had taken Hotch to shampoo his hair as he was finding it difficult to lift his arms up to his head with his injury.

When he came back, he found Emily in the midst of receiving a lower leg and right arm massage that was followed by a mani/pedi. By the time they had returned to Dave's house, she was extremely tired but also much more relaxed.

It had taken all of them a couple of days to get used to seeing Emily in braids as it was not a hairstyle that she had ever worn since joining the BAU. However as promised the braids had lasted several days and were keeping her hair from becoming tangled again which was a relief to everyone. The plan was for her to go back every few days to have her hair washed and then rebraided for the foreseeable future.

When Emily and JJ returned to Dave's house with clean hair and new braids, she went into the kitchen and worked on setting the table for dinner. Dave placed all the plates and utensils on the table and she would arrange them around the table based on how many people were staying. It had been part of her routine for about a week after expressing that she wanted to do something around the house.

When that was done, she took the snack plate Dave had set up for her and went back to the sunroom where she spent most of her day. The recliner that Dave and Morgan had moved into the room had been just what she needed. It had a control panel in the right arm rest that worked the recliner so she could make all adjustments herself. After finding a comfortable position she pulled out the e-reader that Garcia had lent her.

Like Reid, she was a traditionalist with books, preferring print books; however, she had grown increasingly upset at not being able to keep them open and continually losing her place. When she had given it to Emily, Garcia had already uploaded the book she had been trying to read and Emily accepted it as a temporary measure.

The next thing Emily noticed was Hotch carefully waking her up, saying it was dinner time. After moving the chair up, she slowly stood out of habit as she hadn't felt dizzy in a few days. When they reached the kitchen, she found Dave already had dinner on the table.

As they sat down, it warmed her heart as she again noticed the care Dave was putting into her meals. He had embraced the food lists that they were given at the hospital while also keeping in mind her food preferences. He made sure she always had snacks and a drink available. And as grateful as she was about that, that paled in comparison to his efforts to serve her food in such a way that she could manage to eat without help.

It had taken her a few days to realize what he had been doing. She hadn't been sure until he mentioned for dinner one night that he was making a dish that was traditionally served with fettuccine. However when she noticed that when dinner was served, he had made it with penne. Not just for her but also for all of them so that she could manage it on her own but also so she wouldn't feel singled out.

After dinner, Emily headed back to the sunroom with Mudgie walking a few steps behind. While the chocolate lab had been somewhat cautious of them the first couple of days, he had quickly warmed up to them, particularly Emily.

He had taken to following her around and lying next to the recliner when she was sitting there. It was quickly noticed that if they saw Mudgie, Emily wasn't that far away.

At first, Emily wasn't sure what she thought of this development having never had a dog. That was until a day she was upset and the dog sat up next to her and rested his head on her lap. She hadn't wanted to talk yet but she started to feel better as she looked down at the worried puppy eyes looking back at her. He didn't want her to talk. Mudgie had only wanted a head scratch and to have her feel better.

With this development, Dave had started taking Mudgie out for exercise each day when whoever from the team came to visit since Mudgie did not want to leave Emily alone and Emily wasn't ready for the type of walk Mudgie needed.

However as the days went on, Emily slowly added short walks to her day. For those walks she and Hotch took Mudgie as well. In agreeing to that Dave made her promise to drop the leash if the dog tried to chase anything.

However Mudgie was on his best behavior whenever he was out with Emily, even the day when a rabbit darted out in front of them. Dave was shocked but pleased at that development having not had the same result the last time that happened. As she got settled back into the recliner, Mudgie settled on his dog bed that Dave had moved to that spot a few days earlier.

It didn't long for Hotch finished helping Dave clean up. He then came in to sit in the chair next to her recliner that had been his for the last couple of weeks.

A little while later, Dave walked to the door of the room. He had decided when Emily was still in the hospital to set up her place to relax in his sunroom. It was centrally located in his house so they would be able to hear her if she needed anything but had a door if she wanted time to herself. It was also bright with a good view of his garden.

Before they noticed him he just stood in the doorway and watched them together. He was still getting used to seeing them as a couple. Since he had come back to the team almost two years earlier, he knew them both in their roles as FBI agents. He had known Aaron for years and had come to know Emily well in the time since returning to the team.

After learning of their marriage he went back in his mind and considered if there were any indications that he had overlooked as that revelation had even caught him by surprise. As he did, there had been certain interactions where he had attributed one of their reactions to another factor when in reality it was most likely the result of them being a couple.

With them living at his house, he probably had the best opportunity to observe their interactions now. What he had determined even that horrible night when they were injured was how much they were in love with each other. Since then there had been countless times when they had been supportive of each other. Even with her limitations, Emily had been doing her best to support Hotch.

Though he would not say it to their faces, he found them very cute together in a way he had never experienced with either of them separately. While they had only been married for a relatively short time, they had in that time formed a strong bond. A bond they were now relying on as they were navigating their recoveries and upcoming parenthood. As each day passed Dave's conviction was stronger that he would do whatever he could to support them.


	26. Chapter 26

**CHAPTER 26**

Hotch and Emily were heading out for a busy day. Not only did she have her follow up appointment with her surgeon and talking with a physical therapist but now they were heading to her first OB appointment.

Before leaving the hospital, Emily had set up the appointment with her longtime OB/GYN for the follow up that the doctor at the hospital had recommended. Given her injuries, they suggested that she would mostly likely need frequent visits but that would be decided by her doctor.

When they arrived they were relieved that the hospital had already sent a copy of her record from her hospital stay which they reviewed. While Emily had mentioned during a routine exam months earlier about her marriage, she was now able to introduce her doctor to Hotch.

After many questions and the doctor checking her over, she did another ultrasound which showed everything was progressing well with the pregnancy. They now had another picture to add to their baby book.

Overall, given what happened, the doctor was complimentary of how well Emily was doing. She commented that her labs looked great for how much blood she had lost though she still wanted Emily to maintain the recommended dietary changes. The doctor continued that Emily looked well rested and her vital signs were normal. Even her weight gain was where she liked to see it at this point in pregnancy. Hotch and Emily were relieved when they left the appointment at the overall good news.

Next up was Emily's appointment with Dr James, her orthopedic surgeon. After some follow up xrays with extra shielding of her abdomen, he stated he was pleased with the progress in the healing of her bones. He pulled up the images both from when she was in the hospital as well as today and explained the progress he saw. He then removed the sutures from the incisions made during her surgery before also taking out the pins from her shoulder.

Then it was time for the immobilizer to come off which Emily found more painful than expected. Once that was off, he checked her movement in the various joints from her fingers all the way up her arm as well as her sensation in multiple places.

While with expected stiffness, she could move her elbow, wrist and three of her fingers without a problem. Her left ring finger and pinky only moved slightly and there was diminished sensation in both fingers.

Dr James explained that it wasn't surprising nor necessarily permanent given she still had swelling in her shoulder which could be affecting the nerves as those were the two mostly likely to be affected. He cautioned her to be particularly careful with those fingers and that they would continue to monitor them as she progressed with her healing and PT.

Before she left, she was fitted for a supportive sling that replaced the immobilizer but for now was only to be removed when necessary or working on PT. She was also given a sling that could get wet to use when bathing.

When she was done with her doctor visit, they met with the person who would be handling her physical therapy. They established goals both short and long term as well as expectations. For now most of it focused on where Emily wanted to be in six to seven month when the baby was born. With that in focus, her PT also recommended an OT for her to start working with as well.

Then with upcoming appointments set, Hotch and Emily went back to the car to head back to Dave's house. By the time they reached the house, Emily was exhausted. When they walked in Dave was anxiously waiting for them. He was somewhat taken aback when Emily walked up to him with tears in her eyes and hugged him. Letting the surprise pass, he carefully hugged her back while giving Hotch a worried look over her.

When Emily pulled back, Dave kept his arm around her and quietly asked, "what's wrong, honey? What happened?"

Emily shook her head as she answered, "nothing is wrong. I just wanted to thank you. Everything looks good and it's because of what you have done for me, for us over the last couple of weeks. I know I've been difficult. I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate all that you are doing."

"That's good to hear. You worried me when you came in with tears in your eyes." Dave answered having relaxed as she explained

Emily shook her head as she said, "sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

At that Dave guided them into the living room where he sat in a chair across from the couch where Emily and Hotch were sitting.

Once they were settled, Dave asked, "so what did your doctors say?"

Emily smiled as she responded, "Dr Shaw thought I looked great considering what happened. My labs look good though she wants me to continue with the dietary changes and keep taking the vitamins. She commented that I look well rested. My blood pressure and weight are right where she wants them at this point. She did another ultrasound and everything looks good with the baby as well."

Dave smiled and relaxed as she explained. He couldn't have asked for more reassuring news. Even better was that Emily was associating the measures since she had been at his house with the positive feedback from her doctors. He could only hope that it helped her continue to accept all of his help as well as that of the rest of the team even as she improved.

He reached over to take the small ultrasound picture from Hotch. After looking at it, he smiled and said, "well the baby is definitely bigger." as he handed it back to him.

"Yeah."

"What about your ortho appointment?" Dave inquired having noticed the immobilizer was gone. When she had been released from the hospital there had still been some significant unknowns. He was hoping they had gotten some answers today.

Emily nodded as she answered, "healing is on target. Sutures and pins are out. The immobilizer is gone though it hurts to not have that support. He tested all the joints in my arm. Moving each of those is my physical therapy right now as my shoulder isn't ready for too much yet. Oh and I have a wet sling so I can get in the shower now..."

"...with help." Hotch interrupted

Emily rolled her eyes before continuing, "yes with help. But I can shower again. Or take a bath." Even with it being recommended that someone was with her, she was so looking forward to being able to shower. Having Hotch or JJ help her get washed up with a washcloth at the sink had been a poor substitute for the last couple of weeks.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Dave said, "or maybe just a nap right now." as she yawned for the third time in two minutes.

Emily sighed and nodded before replying, "I think you are right. All the appointments wore me out."

With that Hotch stood up and helped her up. Emily stepped over and hugged Dave again before he said quietly to her, "you take your nap. I'm so glad you got good news today."

Emily stepped back but before she walked out of the room, she turned and asked him, "is everyone still coming for dinner tonight?"

"If that is still OK." Dave said having had some reservations about the plan not knowing how these appointments were going to go for her. Even with everything going well, he still wanted to give her an out if she just needed a quiet evening.

"I'm looking forward to seeing everyone." Emily said before walking out of the room and down to their room.

**####**

A few minutes later Hotch joined him in the kitchen. When Dave turned to look at him he noticed that the stressed look that he had noticed as Emily described her visits was still on Hotch's face.

Bring a couple of drinks over, they sat at the table before Dave stated, "but it wasn't all good news."

Hotch looked over at him before shaking his head and saying, "No."

"What is it?" Dave asked suddenly worried again.

Hotch sighed before answering, "she only has minimal movement and sensation in two of her fingers."

"Which two?" Dave asked

"Ring finger and pinky. According to the doctor, those are the two that would be most affected by the swelling that she still has in her shoulder." Hotch replied remembering Dave had been with him when the doctor had initially explained her injuries in the hospital.

"What did he recommend?" Dave asked.

"That she is very careful with those two fingers since the sensation is muted. Other than that it is wait and see." Hotch gave the answer they were given however he still didn't like that was all they could do.

Dave sighed before saying firmly, "he warned us about this Aaron. And you can't let her see you get discouraged."

Hotch nodded as he accepted the truth of Dave's words, "true and it has only been a couple of weeks."

They sat quietly for a couple of minutes before Dave added, "well this guy is the local expert on shoulders. You saw the information that Garcia found on him about his research. It doesn't sound like she could be in better hands."

When Emily was still in the hospital, Morgan and Garcia had researched information on the doctor who did the surgery on Emily's shoulder. They wanted to find out his qualifications as well as look for other doctors who could give a second opinion once they heard the prognosis.

As they searched they found that Dr James was the local expert and go to orthopedic surgeon on difficult shoulder injuries. In other words, she already had the best person taking care of her.

"Yes I know." Hotch answered.

"I see she has a sling now. What changes did they make that I should know about?" Dave said pivoting the discussion so he knew if anything needed to change.

**####**

Later that evening, the team was talking after finishing dinner. It was the first time they had all been together since the day that some of the team helped pack up their apartment and place most of their belongings in storage.

Although he couldn't help much when the day came, Hotch insisted on going as well to the apartment. He just felt he needed to be there. Garcia and Spencer offered to stay at the house with Emily since no one could find a reason she needed to be there. She had made a list of a few more things she would like to have with her but was OK with everything else going to storage.

The process had gone well except for when they reached Jack's room. When Hotch walked into the room, something had immediately felt off. It did not take long for him to notice with certainty that Foyet had been in the room. He had left two Eyes of Providence symbols. One on the pad of paper Jack used to draw. The other was carved into the headboard on Jack's bed.

Morgan and Dave got him out of the room before he lost it. Ultimately, the decision was made to get rid of everything in Jack's room not knowing what exactly Foyet had touched. Until Hotch and Emily made other plans, Dave had a furnished room that was for Jack. JJ agreed to pick up a few outfits that would replace the clothes. Once they had a new place, Hotch would just take Jack to pick a theme to decorate his new room.

After that the team just packed up as quickly as they could so they could leave the apartment for good.

Now they were back together for a much happier occasion. Everyone was relieved at the good news they had received that day.

In the midst of discussion, Morgan jokingly asked Emily, "So Em, tell us. Since your surgery, do you feel smarter, glitterier or more Italian?

Emily looked at him perplexed as she responded, "what are you talking about?"

"During and right after your surgery, you received four units of blood. Three of them came from people you know. One each from Rossi, Garcia and Reid. Jayje and I tried but we weren't the right type." Morgan answered.

Emily could feel the tears building up in her eyes as she looked at her friends immediately clear to her was what Morgan was saying was true. Wiping her eyes, she said, "you guys gave me your blood."

"Of course we did Emily. You needed it." Reid answered.

"Thank you" she said before she gave each of them a hug before saying, "well I have been feeling all three and at least now I know why." before all of them started laughing.


	27. Chapter 27

**CHAPTER 27**

It had been four months since that terrifying evening when Foyet attacked Hotch and Emily in their apartment. It had not been an easy time for them as they both recovered from their respective injuries however with each other and their friends, they were doing well.

Hotch had started physical therapy a few days after all of the stitches came out of his abdomen. It took about a month for him to be able to exercise his abdominal muscles without pain. Two weeks later he was cleared by medical to return to normal duty however he wasn't sure if he was ready to return to the FBI from his sabbatical yet.

Shortly after he was cleared, he was contacted by the head of the FBI Academy requesting for him to fill a temporary vacancy for an instructor on medical leave. After talking to Emily, he agreed to take the position.

While he enjoyed working again and interacting with the trainees, he knew that it was not the type of work he wanted to be doing permanently. That realization had him already research his options again for once he completed the time he agreed on at the Academy.

Emily's recovery was still ongoing given the complexities of her injury. Shortly after starting PT, Derek had approached Emily offering his help with her recovery. Whether they ever worked together again aside, he wanted to be part of helping her regain as much mobility as possible in her shoulder and arm.

So from that day on, Derek attended PT appointments with Emily when Hotch couldn't with his goal being at least once every two weeks. He discussed her progress with the physical therapist that she was working with to set up an acceptable routine for her outside of her appointments. Additionally, he modified the exercise routine that he had written up for JJ during her pregnancy to help Emily keep the rest of her body in shape.

On days when Derek went with her to PT, they would always stop for lunch afterwards enjoying just hanging out as friends again. The friendly lunches reassured Emily that Derek's exercise routines were actually meant to help while Derek learned not to take her grumbling at him personally.

As former partners, they were still able to read cues from the other. Emily didn't miss Derek's worried look when she mentioned one day of wanting to test to go back into the field. While on another day, he tried to reassure her after a session. A new therapist had pushed her too hard and then recommended rest and a sling until her next sesson that it would work out. It was a slow process however progress was continuing to happen.

Meanwhile, as she promised in the hospital, JJ made a similar offer with Emily's OT appointments. They worked on tasks Emily would need to be able to do once the baby arrived, practicing with a doll with a similar weight of a newborn. With success in the various skills, Emily's anxiety lessened about her not being able to care for the baby when she arrived.

Additionally after trying several baby carrying options they found a couple of slings that Emily could wear comfortably. She had quickly found the carriers that rested on both shoulders were uncomfortable on her shoulder even when empty.

If that wasn't enough, her physical therapist nixed those options when it was mentioned citing that a carrier strap resting on her left shoulder could cause damage at least until she strengthened the muscles around the shoulder.

While still on extended medical leave, Emily had been called a week earlier to check if she was up for doing some translation work. After reviewing expectations, she was assigned work that she could mostly do at home part time as she had made it clear that her physical therapy and pregnancy were her primary priorities now.

Even with a significant amount of time having now passed since the news about the attack, the news of their marriage still wasn't publicly known within the Bureau. The investigation ended up being refocused away from that aspect and more towards Foyet's escape and that he was able to ambush them as well as the method of how he was able to easily gain access to the apartment.

Hotch and Emily discussed when they should talk to HR however Dave had suggested they hold off a while longer given that both were in temporary assignments at the moment.. Apparently the tide was turning again due to all of the resignations with the policy. The administration was in the midst of rewriting the anti fraternization guidelines again but they hadn't been published yet.

They had almost made that step after an irate call from Strauss demanding to meet with both of them. While technically, neither of them were currently supervised by Strauss, Hotch agreed to meet with her on a day he was at the Academy however he assured Emily that he could handle Strauss without her.

It had been at the same time that she had been stressing out about the upcoming anatomy scan on the baby. She worried that there would be some effect on the baby from the injury itself as well as from the surgery, medications etc. It further concerned her that Reid was being particularly quiet on the topic even when asked. It wasn't like him to not be spurting off statistics.

However when the day came for the ultrasound, they were thrilled to learn that even with the extended exam, as far as they could tell the baby was developing normally. They were also able to find out that they were expecting a girl. After they left the office that day, Emily was finally able to rest having received good news.

Good news that Hotch wasn't going to let Strauss ruin for them. So when Hotch saw her, Strauss was outraged that Emily wasn't there for the meeting and demanded that they reschedule for her to be there. At that point, Hotch made it clear that she would not be talking to Emily. That she was no longer Emily's supervisor and was currently on leave and therefore wasn't required to honor the request.

While for years he had gotten professional fulfillment from his work in the BAU now his head was no longer there. The constant struggles with Strauss were a large part of what had worn him down.

He had also been discouraged that once he had announced that he was stepping down from his position in the BAU how quickly Strauss worked to replace him. How she was determined to change the BAU, diminishing what he and his team had accomplished to have it function in the way she wanted.

His request for Derek to remain as Unit Chief was immediately squashed. Conflicts with Strauss' pick for Unit Chief had Morgan transferred out of the BAU to become a full time instructor at the Academy at the same time Garcia was transferred to the Cybercrimes Unit. Reid left as Strauss was in the process of transferring him, accepting an offer to teach at Georgetown followed shortly afterwards. JJ and Dave were still in the BAU however Hotch wasn't sure for how much longer.

As much as they appreciated Dave's hospitality in the open ended invitation for them to stay with him, they knew they needed to plan for the future. Once Hotch had fully recovered and Emily had improved, they sat down and discussed what they wanted in terms of living arrangements. After discussing the pros and cons of apartment v condo v house, they decided to buy a house.

With that decision made, they spent a great deal of time choosing a location. They wanted to be near their friends and near Jack. They also discussed how the commute would be from several different areas for various work options they were considering since that topic was still up in the air for both of them.

With their narrowed down list, they met with a recommended realtor and after looking at several houses, they found the house that had checked all of their boxes. The house they chose had the space that they wanted including office space for both of them. The fenced yard had ample space as well as a large entertaining area.

Given what they had been through in their apartment, they consulted a security company that Dave recommended to work with them to develop a security plan for the house that would be completed before they would move into the house. Along with that a crew Morgan had recommended would be arriving to complete the interior painting they wanted done after they took possession of the house.

But not trusting anyone else with the job, Morgan had offered to come over himself on a weekend and helped Hotch painted what would be the nursery as well as Jack's room. Even with not knowing the gender of the baby at that point, Hotch and Emily had chosen a theme that they liked. While Garcia, Dave and JJ had all helped Hotch with the legwork of shopping for nursery furniture, Emily had picked out the decor based on their theme.

When they moved to the house they gave Jack the option of picking his room as well as deciding how he wanted it decorated. He could have the same theme as he had had at the apartment or he could pick something new.

After some thought he told them he wanted to change the theme of his room to an animal theme. Along with that he had requested blue walls because it was his favorite color. After a couple of attempts, they found animal decor that Jack loved with the bonus that it looked great with blue walls. His bathroom was decorated with ocean animals and painted light green.

With the news of the changes in Hotch's life, Haley had become unreasonable again. Once Hotch and Emily bought their house, Haley had taken him to court claiming that he must have been hiding money during the divorce for him to afford that house on his government salary. That she wanted an increase in child support.

However Haley had quickly regretted that decision when during the court proceeding, documents were presented that clearly showed that the money for the house had come from Emily's trust fund.

While they were in court, Hotch's lawyer petitioned for a change in the custody agreement. With the changes he had made with his job, he now wanted to fully share custody. Haley had been fighting him for weeks on his request for more time.

With them now back in court anyway, Hotch showed documents about his new role along with the hours he was now working. The judge granted his request for 50/50 custody as long as his work responsibilities did not significantly change.

Given that his position at the Academy was temporary, he was also required to submit to the court a breakdown in his job responsibilities once he found a permanent position. The judge concluded by saying he wanted to see all of them back in six months for an update before making the change permanent.

So while things weren't perfect, they were slowly moving in the direction they wanted with the help of their friends. And each other.

**AN: Next chapter- what a difference a year makes.**


	28. Chapter 28

**CHAPTER 28**

Hotch walked up behind Emily and wrapped his arm around her before resting his hands on her baby bump as he whispered, "Happy Anniversary sweetheart" before he started to kiss the side of her neck. She turned around and smiled at him before responding, "Happy Anniversary to you too." before meeting his lips which quickly turned into a passionate kiss. A kiss that was interrupted with Garcia knocking before she stepped into the room and said, "OK guys enough of that for now. We're on a schedule. Chop Chop." then walking back out of the room.

They looked at the door and they listened to her heels click as she walked away. Turning back to each other, they laughed before Hotch asked, "are you ready?"

Emily glances over at the full length mirror as she sighed, "I think so. I just wish we weren't doing this when I was just weeks away from having a baby." As she adjusted her dress that to her more resembled a tent than the dresses she used to wear, he placed his hands over hers and when she made eye contact with him in their reflections in the mirror, he says, "you look beautiful, just like we did on this day last year. Our baby is inside of you because of the love we share. The love that led us to get married."

"Stop. You are going to make me cry and then JJ is going to kick your ass because my makeup got messed up. I don't want you to get hurt." Emily said before dapping her eyes.

Hotch chuckled and then answered, "let her. It will be a small price to pay for telling the truth. You don't need the makeup anyway."

Emily smiled and then shook her head as she replied, "you are very sweet but there is no way I'm going without makeup today considering how many pictures are going to be taken."

"As you wish. Let's go." Hotch nodded as he took her hand. Then they walked down the hall to where their friends were waiting for them.

**####**

Later that evening as they sat at the table socializing with the team, Hotch recalled how this evening had come together. It had been weeks early as the team gathered for dinner that the subject of their upcoming anniversary had been broached.

Given the circumstances of when the team found out about their marriage there still hadn't been an opportunity to have the big party to celebrate that they planned to have with the team when they had returned from Vegas.

As the discussion went on, the topic of them renewing their vows with friends and family present came up. After talking about it, Hotch and Emily agreed but it would need to be on their anniversary as they didn't want to diminish the significance of the day they got married.

With that agreement, plans started in earnest. It was in the process of making these plans that the team learned more about the evening they got married. Hotch had only mentioned a few details when he had talked to the team in the hospital.

The team commented that night about being surprised that they had gotten married the same night as Hotch had proposed. They were even more surprised when they found out that the two had opted for a Beatles themed ceremony in Vegas. When the team stopped laughing, Hotch and Emily assured them that they didn't need the same for their vow renewal.

While both had enjoyed the intimacy of their wedding ceremony in Vegas, they were excited to be doing the vow renewal with their BAU family surrounding them. It had been a challenging year. A year that they didn't think they would have made it through at least not as well without each other and the help of their friends.

The group invited was very small. It was only the team, Will, Henry and of course Jack. One member of the BAU team who they were relieved hadn't arrived early to attend was Hotch and Emily's daughter as it was still too early. And with the day here as far as Emily could tell, the baby's arrival wasn't imminent.

Emily's parents had been invited as well but declined as they still did not support the union. Not surprised, Emily didn't let their absence diminish the joy of the day.

As they all sat around talking over dinner, Hotch and Emily held hands as they cuddled up against each other. Hands that now each had a ring.

They had not only exchanged vows that they had written themselves. Vows that were different than the standard ones the chapel had used. After the last year their personalized vows seemed appropriate.

During this ceremony Hotch had taken the opportunity to make a change he had been considering as well. Now that he had left the BAU and was no longer working in the field, he had decided he wanted to wear a wedding band.

He had worn one during his marriage with Haley and with the reservations about field work no longer an issue, this ceremony presented the perfect time for him to add one. Jack had been holding it for him and handed it to Emily when the time came.

For Emily, she loved the necklace her husband had given her months earlier and did not want to replace its significance with a wedding ring on her hand. During the ceremony when it was her turn, he put the necklace back on her after she had handed it to him before the ceremony.

Then instead of wearing a wedding ring, Emily had embraced the idea of wearing an eternity ring on her right hand instead. Hotch had gone back to the same jeweler who had created the necklace for an eternity ring that would complement the necklace. He had given it to her that morning after they woke up as an anniversary gift.

With the ceremony part of the evening finished, even more pictures were taken. The relaxed evening with their closest friends celebrating their marriage was exactly what the couple needed after the ups and downs of the last year.

**####**

Following their vow renewal, time seemed to be charging ahead at full speed. There seemed to be so much to get done and so little time to do things.

Before they knew it, Thanksgiving Day had arrived and was celebrated with the team at Dave's house. And what made the day special this year was Hotch had custody of Jack for Thanksgiving dinner.

After Thanksgiving, they finalized everything that needed to be done for Christmas. Jack stayed with them Christmas Eve evening and they made the most out of the day before dinner with the team. They left shortly after dinner as Hotch needed to take Jack back to Haley's and Emily was tired. Christmas Day was quiet with just the two of them.

As soon as Christmas was over, the couple found themselves anxiously awaiting the upcoming arrival of their baby girl having already made all of the last minute preparations.


	29. Chapter 29

**CHAPTER 29**

Emily was on her side breathing heavily as she felt Hotch reach from around from behind her and place his hands on her belly. As they cuddled, he asked quietly, "so do you feel anything?"

At Emily's last OB appointment, the doctor had suggested that sex and nipple stimulation could encourage labor to begin. Since then they had been trying these approaches as much as possible to get her labor to start before her doctor decided to induce her.

As much as Emily wanted to say yes, she couldn't. Groaning in frustration, she turned her head to look at him and answered sadly, "no, nothing. This baby is never going to come."

Hotch smiled understanding these last couple of weeks had been particularly draining for her before he answered, "yes she will. She is just being stubborn. I have no idea where that would have come from."

Emily chuckled before saying, "I don't know what you are talking about."

They both laughed before Hotch leaned in to kiss her. As they kissed, he reached under her knee pulling her leg up placing it on his shoulder as he without breaking their connection moved so he was facing her. Supporting himself with his right arm, he moved her leg onto his back before turning his attention to her breasts only to be interrupted a few minutes later by a message on his phone.

They both groaned as he rested his forehead against hers before pulling back and picking up the phone. As he checked the message, he said irked, "just got pulled into a meeting in a couple of hours."

Emily sighed as she slowly eased herself up to sitting before answering, "then it's a good thing that Derek is taking me to PT today."

Hotch came over and stood in front of her while giving her a hand to stand up. As she was standing in front of him, he leaned down to kiss her. When he had moved down to her neck, Emily moaned before saying, "we should probably get ready for the day since we both have somewhere we need to be."

Hotch sighed and straightened up as he replied, "I suppose you are right." Taking her right hand, he slightly drew her towards him before he said quietly, "come join me in the shower."

Emily smirked at him before nodding as she answered, "you're going to help me wash my hair." It was a task that she continued to struggle with because of her shoulder injury.

Hotch nodded before saying, "eventually."

**####**

Emily found herself increasingly irritable as her physical therapy session progressed. After Hotch had left for the office, a wave of fatigue had washed over her. As she was dozing, the doorbell had signaled Derek's arrival. After gathering her purse and keys, they had left for her appointment.

However since she had woken up from that nap her stomach had been upset which was causing cramping and her back pain was more intense than usual. After her appointment when Morgan had suggested lunch, she waved him off stating she wasn't hungry.

At that statement, Derek looked at her concerned as having lunch after her appointments had been part of their routine since he first started going with her. Looking at her, he asked, "you OK Princess? It's not like you to want to skip lunch."

Emily grimaced as she looked over at him and answered, "I don't want food right now. I'm tired, my stomach isn't happy and my back hurts. I just want to go home, lay down and take a nap."

Derek nodded as he noticed the fatigue on her face as he answered, "if you're sure let's get you home then." They had only taken a couple of steps, when Emily stopped and grabbed onto his arm and she leaned forward and moaned.

Wrapping an arm around her, Morgan said panicked, "Emily, what's wrong?" It was several seconds before she loosened her grasp on his arm and answered, "nothing is wrong. However, I believe my stubborn child is finally ready to make her appearance."

Derek smiled and answered, "well then let's make some phone calls and get you to the hospital." They slowly continued walking to his car as he kept an arm around her so she didn't fall when the next contraction hit.

**####**

On the 10 minute drive, Emily had had four more contractions, each stronger than the last. When they reached the hospital, Morgan had left his car with a valet. With Emily now unsteady on her feet, he got her into a wheelchair for the quick ride to the OB floor.

Once there they were quickly taken to a room by a nurse who handed Emily a gown to change into before she stepped out of the room to gather supplies.

It was then that Emily realized that she was wearing the one shirt that she had that still fit that did not open in the front. As she attempted to move her left arm to remove it from the sleeve, she cried out in pain. The reaction was not completely unexpected as she had had an intense PT session that had ended less than an hour earlier.

When she cried out Derek moved closer and asked, "what's wrong?"

Emily pointed to the gown and then said tearfully, "I can't lift my arm to take this shirt off." She paused and then asked, "can you help?"

Derek's eyes widened at the request before he answered, "um Em, I don't think that is a good idea."

Emily looked over at him. It was hard enough for her to ask someone for help. But to have him refused her request when she did was really pissing her off.

Glaring at him as she replied, "what, are you going to pretend that you have never seen a bra before. I'm not asking you to … ah son of a bitch! " Derek watched as Emily breathed through her contraction before she looked back at him and barked, "if you aren't going to help, then just leave or I may just throw you out this window with the next contraction."

Before Derek could reply, the door opened and in walked JJ. Derek visibly relaxed when he saw her and said, "thank god."

JJ smiled and replied, "no, just me. How are things going in here?"

Emily looked up and said, "Derek was just leaving before he goes out the window."

JJ looked at him questioningly before he answered, "I don't feel comfortable taking off her shirt…"

"...and this is the one that doesn't have a front closure. You go and I'll take care of it." JJ said before moving over next to Emily. Derek walked to the door and then said, "best wishes Princess." before quickly leaving the room. He held the door for the nurse who was coming back in with an armful of supplies. As he was walking down the hall to the waiting room, Hotch and Reid came around the corner and quickly walked over to him.

As they came up, Hotch anxiously asked, "how is she?"

Morgan replied, "she's OK. Said she was tired and didn't feel well after PT so I was going to take her home instead of our usual lunch when she had her first contraction. I sent the message to you as soon as I got her settled in the car and then we came right here."

Hotch nodded and then asked, "would they not let you stay until I got here?"

Morgan chuckled before replying, "they were OK with me staying however I left when JJ got here a few minutes ago after Emily threatened to throw me out the window."

Reid looked at him confused before he asked, "why did she do that?"

"She needed to change into a gown and because she just had PT couldn't move her arm to get her shirt off. She was annoyed with my reluctance to help her as I didn't think Hotch would appreciate walking in on that. When I left, JJ was helping get her settled."

Just then Hotch phone beeped. He took it out of his pocket as said after he looked at it, "speaking of JJ, she wants an ETA" as he typed her a message back. Another beep quickly came and Hotch's eyes widened as he continued, "Emily is already at 8 cm and her water just broke." as he looked anxiously up at them.

Derek pointed down the hall as he said, "she's in room 12 Hotch." before his friend quickly walked down the hall towards the room.

**####**

"OK Emily one more push." Dr Shaw said standing in front of her.

Emily groaned before answering, "you said that three pushes ago."

The doctor nodded before replying, "she's right here. She has a full head of hair. Come on one more big push and you'll be holding your baby."

"Come on Em, you can do this." JJ said from the right side of the bed.

Hotch kissed her forehead as he quietly said, "one more push sweetheart. It's time to meet our baby." As he did, he prepared to support her left shoulder through this next and hopefully last contraction. Emily's physical therapist had worked with him on the best way to support her shoulder while in labor however even so he was being very careful not to strain it.

It was just then that another contraction hit and Emily's body forced her to push whether she wanted to or not. Wanting the doctor to be right, she put all of her energy into her push and was quickly rewarded by the loud cry of their daughter.

The baby was immediately placed on her chest. When they started talking to her, the cries calmed and she looked up at them.

"She's so pretty." JJ said as she took in the sight in front of her.

Hotch smiled before replying, "she looks just like her mom."

They took turns holding their baby while the doctor finished with Emily. When they were left in the room with just their nurse, Emily handed the baby to her as she had been patiently waiting to examine and weigh the newborn.

While she did that, Hotch helped Emily up to go into the bathroom so she could shower. After Emily got up, JJ went to her bag and took out the items Emily had chosen to wear after the baby was born.

After handing everything to Hotch, she happily held the baby who the nurse was now done assessing. By the time Emily came out of the bathroom, the room had been completely cleaned up as well. After she was settled back on the bed, JJ carefully handed Emily her daughter.

Stepping back, JJ asked, "do you want some time to yourselves or are you ready for visitors?"

Hotch cleared his throat before answering, "ask them to give us a few minutes and then they can come in."

JJ nodded and left the room leaving the three of them alone.

**####**

Hotch had just settled on the bed next to Emily when there was a knock on the door followed by it tentatively opening as Garcia asked, "can we come in now?"

Emily laughed as she answered, "yes, come in and meet the newest Hotchner."

The team filed into the room and each person came over to look closely at the new infant as well as congratulate the new parents. When it was Derek's turn, Emily looked down sheepishly before she said, "I'm sorry I threatened you."

Derek laughed before saying, "it's OK Princess. The labor room is like Vegas. What happens there, stays there. All will be forgiven if you let me first one to hold your little lady."

Laughs filled the room and Emily maneuvered the baby into Derek's arms. Once he was holding her, Garcia and Dave came up next to him to get a better look at her.

A couple of moments passed before, Reid clears his throat and asks, "does she have a name yet?"

Hotch nodded as he sat with his arm around Emily's shoulders while she had her head resting on his chest. He looked at her before answering, "yes, we discussed it when JJ came out to get you. We'd like all of you to meet Eden Anneliese Hotchner."

Garcia gushed as she said, "aw, hello there Eden. Can I hold her? It's about time we had a girl for me to spoil. There are so many cute things that your daddy and Auntie JJ won't let me get for the boys."

Everyone laughed as they were all well aware of Garcia's enthusiasm in choosing gifts for the kids. As they did, Derek eased the baby into Garcia's arms.

At the mention of Jack, Dave asked, "when is Jack going to come by to meet his new sister?"

Hotch nodded before answering sadly, "hopefully tomorrow. Haley took him out of town this week to visit her extended family."

Emily sighed before continuing, "as long as we are both doing OK, we'll probably be home by then. The plan is to go home early in the morning unless a problem arises."

"You don't want to stay longer." Dave teased, knowing her opinion of hospitals well.

Emily huffed at him before answering, "no. I hate hospitals and have spent way too much time in them." She paused and took a few breaths to calm herself before continuing, "if they recommend that either of us stay of course we will but if not we'll go home and just see Eden's doctor in the office."

After the team visited for a while, they all noticed the fatigue on Emily's face after she yawned several times in five minutes. As they were saying their goodbyes, Dave asked as he hugged both of them, "let us know when you go home."

They were all walking towards the door when Garcia turned and exclaimed, "oh oh, take pictures of Jack with Eden and send them please."

They promised to do it later the next day.


	30. Chapter 30

**AN: Just a quick note- after this there will be one more chapter and then an epilogue.**

**CHAPTER 30**

It had been two months since Eden's birth and life at the Hotchner house had never been happier. While they were both tired with an infant in the house, neither had any complaints.

Today while Hotch was at work, Morgan had gone with Emily to her PT appointment. What ended up being her last PT appointment as her therapist stated that he was releasing her with instructions on what exercises to continue doing.

When they arrived at lunch, Morgan noticed that Emily was picking at her nails, a tell he had picked up on years earlier that something was bothering her. Once they were seated, he asked, "what's wrong. I thought you would be thrilled to be done with PT. I know it's been hard to get to appointments since the baby was born."

Emily was quiet and then sighed before answering, "I am thrilled. I do understand that I still need to work with my shoulder. It's just that when I first heard in the hospital about how important the next six to eight months would be to get back as much function as possible it seemed like so much time. Now I'm at that point and I'm still not where I want to be with my shoulder. And now PT said there is nothing more they can do and it's discouraging."

"I get it Emily. I had similar thoughts after I injured my knee in college. But there is not much else PT can offer you at this point. Your range of motion is decent. What you need to continue working on now is strengthening all the muscles in that area. At this point that is going to be what is going to give you the results that you are looking for."

Emily sighed and nodded before answering, "I know. And now that I'm not pregnant anymore I need to get back to the gym on a more regular basis."

Derek looked at her as he said sternly, "just don't overdo it as it will set you back. Why don't we develop an exercise plan…"

His thought was interrupted as Garcia came over to them. She hugged Emily, gave Derek a kiss as she picked up Eden before sitting down saying, "sorry I'm late. Did you order yet?"

Derek shook his head as he answered, "no Baby Girl. We just got here. Princess has some exciting news."

Garcia's eyes widened as she focused on Emily. Emily sighed before saying, "I was released from PT today."

Garcia looked at her confused as she replied, "why aren't you jumping for joy? This is good news isn't it?"

Emily nodded before she answered, "it is good news. It's just trying to reconcile where I am now versus where I want to be."

"We were talking about it when you came in and we are going to keep working together." Derek added.

Before Garcia could say anything the server arrived to take their orders. They went around the table giving their orders before the server walked away.

Deciding to change the subject, Morgan asked, "so Em, how did things go in court."

The previous week was the court date for the six month follow up on the change in custody order. While in court, Hotch had submitted information about his new position in the investigative unit of the Secret Service.

He was back to profiling though now it was primarily from the office compiling information that other agents gathered in the field. The judge appreciated that as well as the letter Hotch's supervisor had included stating that the travel requirement for the position were standard and for him would encompass only meetings and not field duty.

A list of the two meetings with locations and dates in the next six months was included. The hours that the team generally worked as also included with the caveat that the hours increased if there was an active threat however for their team that only occurred a handful of times per year.

The outcome after the judge also talked to Jack was favorable for Hotch and Emily as the judge approved the change in custody to permanent over Haley's objections. Objections that fell on deaf ears as it was also reported during the hearing how she had tried to undermine the new custody agreement.

After chastising her, the judge ordered that all custody handoffs would be at an official site that would monitor them and log the days and times. If the problems continued, he would schedule another court hearing and take further steps.

Emily sighed before answering, "mostly good. We now have 50/50 custody which essentially is Jack spends every other week with us. It's been great having him around more and he adores Eden."

"Then what's wrong." Derek asked noticing the tension on the subject.

"Haley" Emily answered without further comment. As much as these were their close friends she didn't feel comfortable discussing this part of Aaron's personal business with them.

The table was quiet before Garcia asked, "so Em what are your plans for Valentine's Day? Are you going to have sexy time with Bossman?"

Derek groaned and shook his head as he said, "Pen, stop. TMI." It had taken a while but he had accepted that his friend and former partner was married to and therefore sleeping with their former boss. The clear evidence of that fact was now being held by his girlfriend. But he didn't want to hear the details.

Emily laughed at Derek's reaction before saying, "well Jack will be with Haley and Dave offered to take Eden so…"

Derek looked at her intrigued before asking, "Dave offered to take the baby? You mean our Dave? Dave Rossi?"

Emily nodded before answering, "yeah him. Apparently Krystall is going to be in town and he said they would love to take care of the baby for the night. So we are going to go to dinner together for the first time since Eden was born."

Garcia looked over at her excited before saying, "oh we need to go shopping. You need a dress for dinner and new sexy lingerie to wear under it."

Derek groaned before saying, "OK, Eden and I are going to take a walk." as he stood, gestured for Garcia to pass him Eden before walking away from the table.

Emily and Garcia watched him leave before laughing. Garcia then said, "he's a spoil sport. Do you want to go shopping?"

Emily shrugged before answering quietly, "maybe. A new dress would be nice. I'm not quite back to my pre pregnancy wardrobe."

Garcia cocked her head carefully appraising her friend who was increasingly distracted as they spoke. Then shaking her head she asked bluntly, "then what's wrong. Did your doctor not clear you?" remembering that Emily had just had her follow up appointment after Eden's birth.

Emily sighed before nodding. Looking over at Garcia, she shared, "she did. Yesterday. But I haven't told Aaron yet. My appointment was supposed to be on the day of the court hearing so I rescheduled it as that was more important."

"Then what's the problem?" Garcia asked she was starting to get an inkling of what the issue was.

Emily was silently staring at the table before looking over at her friend and saying, "I'm not the same. I still have some baby weight and aside from that my body is just different. On top of that I have these big ugly scars on my chest and shoulder. What if he just doesn't find me attractive anymore?"

"Emily, you must know that that is nuts. That man loves you." Garcia responded however she could see the look on Emily's face that she was in fact serious.

Emily sighed before nodding as she answered, "I know. I love him too. That's why I don't want him to see my body now."

"He's had to have seen your body since you were shot." Garcia stated.

Emily nodded as she said, "sure he helped me for weeks with dressing and showering. But there is a big difference between caregiver and lover."

Garcia lowered her voice as she responded, "so you never you know after your injury? Well I guess it may have been hard to get in the mood with Dad sleeping down the hall."

Emily chuckled at the statement before answering, "not when we were at Rossi's." She paused as she suddenly remembered that there had been one time shortly before they moved to their house when Dave was travelling with the team. She continued, "some once we moved to the house. Mostly it was at the end with the goal in mind of trying to get my labor to start. But it was different from before all this happened."

"Different how?" Garcia asked.

Emily sighed as she answered quietly, "less spontaneous. We had to work around my belly as well as making sure my shoulder was in a stable position if you want to talk about mood breakers. At that point in my pregnancy it wasn't really an issue. But now with PT releasing me and not feeling like my shoulder is completely healed I just wonder if that's just how it's always going to be for us. Add to that that my body is just different. I just wonder if what I have to offer now is going to be enough for him."

Garcia shook her head at her friend before saying, "Emily, talk to him about your worries. But if that is how you are feeling, we definitely need to go shopping and maybe add a manicure and a hair appointment. Whatever will make you feel more confident."

Emily sighed then nodded as she said, "you're right. I'll talk to him tonight."

Looking over at her friend, she was relieved that she had talked it through with Garcia. It was a topic that had been worrying her for a couple of weeks after looking at the changes to her body in the mirror one day. She had really needed someone else's perspective on it.

On most topics she tended to gravitate towards JJ. But on this she needed the reality check that came with Garcia's blunt assessment instead of JJ's understanding. A part of her knew she was being ridiculous. That the changes to her body hadn't changed how her husband felt about her.

No it was her that was working through the adjustment now. Her shoulder injury and pregnancy happened at the same time for her as she found out about both only minutes apart. From that day on, their intimacy when it came to roles in their marriage had changed. They were needed changes that had ultimately allowed their bond to strengthen.

But now that her pregnancy was over and her shoulder was slowly improving, she was worried about how they moved back to the romantic side of their relationship that had been put aside for months. Could they get back to those early days of their marriage? Given her less than spectacular dating history, she was nervous. But Garcia was right, she just needed to talk to Aaron and trust that they would find a way forward together.

"Oh course I'm right." Garcia answered as she hoped that Hotch would be successful in reassuring her when they spoke. They sat quietly at the table until Garcia asked, "so Em, are you going back to work?"

Emily nodded before she answered, "yes but not yet. I'm still on maternity leave for a couple more months."

"Do you know what you are going to do?" Garcia asked curious as to what she planned on doing next.

Emily sighed before shaking her head, replying, "not exactly. Translation services sent a message that they would welcome me back whenever I am ready. I may do that in the short term but it's not what I want to be doing long term. I've had some inquiries from multiple departments. I just need to see what is open when I'm ready to go back. I also need to evaluate if I want to try and pass qualifications for a field position or not."

Garcia looked over at her surprised it had not been that long since she was fretting about her shoulder not being where she wanted it. Unable to keep the surprise out of her voice, Garcia said, "you want to go back into the field? After everything that happened."

Emily sighed before answering, "I didn't get hurt in the field, Pen. I was shot in my own home."


	31. Chapter 31

**CHAPTER 31**

Emily walked in the door of her empty house and collapsed on the couch. Today had been her requalifying tests in order to return field status. After over a year of working with PT and then Derek on recovering from her shoulder injury, she decided the previous week that she was as ready as she was going to be for this step.

So starting early this morning, one of the Academy instructors put her through the paces - physical fitness, strength, endurance, firearms recertification, hand to hand and takedown/arrest procedure.

By the end she was dragging but was greeted with the news that she passed - by only two points. While happy that she passed and was once again cleared for field duties, she was discouraged by how close it was when in the past she had passed with flying colors.

As she waited for Hotch to arrive home with Eden, she reflected on a conversation she had with Derek the week before.

_FLASHBACK_

"_I signed up to do my proficiencies for getting my field status back next week."_

"_I saw." Derek answered brusquely. In his new position within the Academy he was responsible for agents who didn't have a current assignment as they were out of medical leave because of an injury and a determination hadn't been made yet if they could go back into the field or not._

"_Are you going to be my tester this time?"_

"_No Emily I'm not. Agent Scott is going to do your qualifications."_

"_Agent Scott?!" Emily answered with the dread clear in her voice._

"_What do you think I would go easy on you? I hate to tell you this but I would be harder on you than Scott."_

"_What the hell Derek? I'm not saying I want someone who will just pass me but why? You know how hard I've worked to get to this point."_

"_Because I was there that night Emily. The night you were shot. After I told you, begged you not to go in alone, you hung up our call and went in anyway. It was stupid." He paused and sighed before continuing, "it was stupid and brave and reckless and I can't say I would have reacted differently in the same circumstances."_

_Emily gulped at the harshness of his words. But when she looked over at him she could see the pain in his eyes. After taking a deep breath, she said, "then what is it Derek?"_

_Derek sighed before starting, "Dave and I were just a few steps away from the door when we heard the gunshots. When we entered the apartment he went to check on Foyet and Hotch while I came to you." _

_He paused and she could see that he was struggling with this next part before he continued, "I came up and immediately saw that you were hit in the left chest and that you were bleeding from your head. I had to check your pulse while I prayed that there was one while Hotch was calling over to me, pleading with me to tell him that you were OK. I held pressure on your wounds and had your blood running through my fingers until the EMTs arrived. I never again want to be in the same situation, Emily. _

_I won't do your proficiencies because I couldn't be objective and that isn't fair to you. I would be really hard on you. Too hard because I would want to be certain that if you are in the field, you could handle anything that you would come across. _

_You didn't see the look on Hotch's face that night. I don't want to see that look ever again. I don't want to need to go and tell him and your beautiful little girl that something happened to you and question if I had been too easy on you and that had allowed you to be in a situation that you couldn't handle." _

_END FLASHBACK_

That discussion with Derek was eye opening for her. Before then she had only heard snippets of what happened after she was shot and before she woke up in the ICU.

After she had woken up she had just been bombarded with news about her injury and pregnancy that she hadn't pushed for information the way she generally would have.

She hadn't noticed immediately but it hadn't taken long to catch on that the omissions were deliberate. And from what Derek had said, she could now understand why.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she heard keys jingle in the door before Hotch walked in with Eden.

After taking his coat off, he came over and asked, " how did it go?" as he sat down next to her while he took Eden's coat off.

Emily sighed before answering tiredly, "good. I passed. But only by 2 points." As she did, she saw flashes of emotion cross over her husband's face. Before she could process them too much he replied, "OK, so a field position? Have you talked to Derek yet about what your options are?"

Before Emily could answer, Eden started to fuss. When Emily reached over to take her, she found she couldn't move her left arm. As she tried again too, there was a pain that shot through it as she could hear her daughter's cries intensifying.

Hotch was stunned as he observed Emily first not able to move her arm followed by tears filling her eyes. Worried, he reached over and touched her leg as he asked, "what's wrong?'

Emily shook her head as she answered, "I don't know. It was sore when I drove home but OK. Now it won't move and it hurts when I try."

Hotch sighed as he stood up after looking at his watch, "you may have reinjured it today. The doctor's office is still open. Let me see if they can't get you in before we consider going to the ER."

Emily watched Hotch talk on the phone as a feeling of dread started to consume her. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt him touch her knee. She hadn't noticed him finishing on the phone or coming back over to sit next to her.

"I'm sorry Aaron. This is my fault. I wanted so badly to qualify for the field but I may have just undone months of progress. I can't even pick up our baby."

Hotch leaned in and hugged her as he said, "there was nothing wrong with doing your qualifying tests today. You checked with your doctor about it and he didn't object. Let's not worry too much on the what ifs until they take a look at it. We need to leave now to make your appointment."

**####**

Derek Morgan was sitting in his office at the Academy the next morning looking at the report that just crossed his desk.

The results of Emily's qualifications as well as her official duty to field status paperwork. He was conflicted at the development.

He had known that she was going yesterday. With how hard she had worked for months, he wanted her to have a fair assessment. But now, he wasn't sure if he was prepared to transfer her paperwork to a new department knowing that it would have her back in the field. But he didn't have a reason not to as she had successfully completed the protocol.

She had passed the last hurdle. The hurdle that she was never expected to get to the point that she could even attempt it. That she even felt prepared to attempt the test let alone passed them was in itself an accomplishment.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed her come into the entryway of the office suite where his office now was. However when he fully observed her, he immediately noticed that she had her arm back in her sling. With that observation, he walked over to his door to go talk to her, alarmed at the change from the previous morning. As he walked towards her, he noticed Hotch standing in the doorway of the entryway. When their eyes met, Hotch gave him a serious pointed look.

Not sure what was going on, he approached Emily and glided her towards his office. After they got into the office, he sat down next to her in the visitors chairs. When she didn't say anything, he asked, "what happened?"

Emily sighed before looking over at him before explaining, "I was fine after I finished yesterday. I even drove home. My arm was sore though that wasn't unexpected. Aaron wasn't home yet so I rested until he got home with Eden. When they did, I couldn't move my arm and it hurt to try. I couldn't pick up my baby."

Derek sighed and shook his head before he asked, "do you need to go see the doctor?"

Emily shook her head before answering, "I did. Aaron called right away and was able to get an appointment with Dr. James last night. Thankfully the x-ray didn't show any fractures but he mentioned that it was most likely a soft tissue injury. I can't feel or move two of my fingers again. After resting it for a few days I'm back to PT."

Derek sighed before he responded, "Emily, I'm sorry. I thought you were ready after the last few weeks."

"I did too or I never would have tried yesterday." Emily answered quietly.

"So how long did they say it would keep you out of the field?" Derek asked.

She and Hotch had had a long conversation about what this meant after they had gotten home from her appointment and put Eden to bed. She had known what he had wanted to say before then but had heard him out. The conversation she had with Derek a week earlier had prepared her somewhat to hear what he had to say. Ultimately she understood both of their worries as well as now had even more of her own.

Emily sighed and decided to just rip the bandaid off when she said, "that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I won't be attempting to gain field status after this.

I keep coming back to what you said last week. What happened last night was a wake up call. Yeah doing all those tests at one time was an extreme that we don't generally find in the field. But that's not to say it won't. I wouldn't have been able to protect myself or my partner last night. I can't risk myself or someone else getting hurt because of that. I also don't want to risk any additional damage to my shoulder and lose the mobility that I have now. I don't want to lose being able to hold my baby."

Derek nodded before answering, "I understand and I think you are making the right choice. As you know I get the difficult decisions that need to be made after a serious injuries. So what are you going to do?"

"After talking to Aaron last night, I'm going to see if that position in Counterintelligence is still available. It is a good fit for my skills even if it's not the team in Counterintelligence that I wanted. If it isn't available, I'll go back to Translations Services until something else opens up."

Derek nodded having heard her reservations previously about the position currently open in Counterintelligence. Reaching over he took her hand and squeezed it as he said, "whatever the future holds just know that you did what no one expected that you'd be able to do Emily. You passed yesterday with Agent Scott. Don't doubt what you accomplished. You may be leaving the field but it is your choice even if it isn't on your terms."

Emily smiled and squeezed his hand back as she answered, "thanks and you're right."

Looking over at his desk, he saw the report for the tests the day before along with the paperwork for her next assignment. Turning back to her he asked, "do you want me to send these over or do you want to take them?"

Emily sighed before answering, "I'll take them. I have a meeting set up in Counterintelligence later this morning." as she stood up. She waited for Derek to fill in a couple of areas on the forms before he handed them to her.

As he did, he gave her a gentle hug before saying to her, "Good luck to you Princess. Don't be a stranger. When are you going to tell the others?" All of them had known that she was testing to go back into the field.

Emily sighed before saying, "dinner at Dave's tomorrow." though it wasn't like showing up with her arm back in a sling wasn't going to lead to questions anyway. As she moved towards the door she looked at her friend and said, "thanks Derek. For everything."

Morgan smiled back at her and answered, "anytime."

He watched as she walked out of his office and back down the hall to where Hotch was waiting. After they exchanged a couple of words, he saw Hotch gently hug her. As he did, he made eye contact with Derek and nodded before they walked out of the office suite.


	32. Chapter 32

**AN: This is the end of this story. Thanks to everyone for reading as well as everyone who left comments, favored or followed it. I appreciate the support.**

**EPILOGUE**

Dave entered the new expanded BAU work area and looked around. When he and Gideon had founded the BAU years earlier, he had never expected this outcome. Even a couple of years ago none of them would have expected the BAU to be what it was today.

After Foyet attacked Hotch and Emily in their apartments things had looked rather bleak for the BAU. Within weeks, Strauss had hired new agents for the BAU as well as had Reid, Garcia and Morgan all reassigned to other departments. Dave had been the last one there after JJ transferred out a short time later.

Strauss had been ecstatic having wanted Hotch out of the BAU for years. With him out on leave, she finally had the opportunity to create the BAU how she envisioned it. The administration didn't question her decisions or hires.

At least not until yet another new FBI Director started. One of the first tasks that he tackled was to find out why the reputation of the BAU had taken repeated hits in recent months.

An investigation showed they were taking on less cases and only those cases that could easily be solved. They had repeatedly turned down missing children as well as serial killer cases that had resulted in numerous additional deaths. Word had gotten around in the law enforcement community and what was once seen as a valuable resource for local and state officials was no longer respected.

At the conclusion of the investigation, Strauss and all the agents in the BAU were demoted and reassigned out of the BAU. It was then that Hotch received a call requesting he attend a meeting with the new Director.

Hotch had agreed to the meeting out of curiosity as none of them knew at that point about the fate of the agents in the BAU. While he liked that he was profiling again in his job with the Secret Service, he wasn't excited about the position. But it had allowed him to keep shared custody of Jack which had been his reason for taking it.

The first meeting with the Director had ended quickly when Hotch explained that he couldn't accept his position as Unit Chief back and why.

A couple of days later, he was contacted for a second meeting. Conflicted, he talked with Emily before agreeing to talk to the Director again. And by the end of that meeting, they were all glad that he did.

At this meeting, the Director had offered him the newly created position as Head of the BAU if he would come back. He was offered an expanded budget and flexibility in picking the agents assigned to the BAU. Additionally the Director pointed out that this was a desk position and he would fill out whatever paperwork Hotch needed for court if he would take the position.

The director had explained the issues with the Unit when he started as well as the reputation issues they were now facing. The BAU needed experienced agents who were profilers in order to attempt to regain the respect that the BAU had held for so long but had quickly lost.

After that meeting, Hotch called a meeting of the whole team and explained what the Director wanted. They were all excited about the prospect of working together again. All agreed to come back to the BAU with one unexpected exception. Morgan.

When Morgan and Hotch met the next day to talk Morgan explained that he and Garcia had just found out she was expecting. Between having his own father being killed while on duty when he was a kid and what happened to Hotch and Emily he didn't want to work in the field anymore. Hotch sighed understanding the younger agent's mindset.

With the flexibility the Director gave him, Hotch asked if he would accept a position that was office based such as what Emily was going to be doing but with a different focus. When Derek showed interest, Hotch explained a position that he was going to create in the BAU based off of his time working at the Academy. With Derek having also been an instructor, he would be an ideal candidate for that position.

With a plan formulated, Hotch had again met with the Director to review it. The Director somewhat balked at the idea of having couples in the BAU even though he had relaxed the anti-fraternization rules of the previous Director. But after discussing specifics and establishing rules, he approved the couples as well as the plan that Hotch had developed with the team.

It had now been over a year and as far as Dave was concerned the BAU was stronger than ever. Words had quickly spread that their team was back and the BAU was as busy as ever. The new field agents that they had hired worked well with the rest of the team.

It was then that Dave's eye caught someone quickly entering the bullpen. When he walked over to the door of his office, he noticed it was Tara Lewis who was one of the new field agents Hotch had hired.

She stopped when she saw him saying, "you're still here. Did you not get the message?"

Dave looked at her confused as he asked, "what message?"

"Emily. About going to the hospital." Tara responded.

Dave shook his head before answering, "no, let's go." before they both walked out of the bullpen.

**####**

The team was gathered in a hospital waiting room anxiously waiting for news on their friends. Each of them had spent more than they would have liked over the years in this or similar waiting rooms. However today this gathering was for the joyous occasion as they waited for news of the arrival of a new member of their extended BAU family.

JJ slowly stood up and paced around the room. A small smile crossed her face as she realized that in just a few months, everyone would here waiting to hear word on the little girl who was now growing inside of her. Across the room, she saw Will settling three year old Henry and two year old Eden in chairs with the promise of a book. Alex Blake, a new agent with the team, was playing chess with Jack at a table nearby.

Shortly after she started pacing, Garcia came over and started walking with her as they chatted. As they talked, Garcia asked, "so Jayje, how are you liking being a profiler?"

When the BAU had reformed, Hotch had given her the option of taking the profiling courses and becoming a profiler or just taking a couple of the courses and resuming her position as media liaison. After thinking about it, JJ had elected to become a profiler.

JJ chuckled as she answered, "I've been a profiler for 6 months now, Pen."

Garcia chuckled before answering, "I know but I've kind of had my hand full." They both laughed as they looked over at Morgan holding his and Garcia's infant son as he slept.

Their attention was pulled away from Morgan as the door opened. The room quieted and all of the heads in the room turned anxious checking if the person entering brought news. There were a series of groans as they noticed it was only Spencer and his girlfriend Maeve who had taken a walk to calm Spencer's nervous energy at waiting along with Dave and Tara Lewis.

As the group walked up to JJ and Penelope, JJ nervously pointed at the balloon that Spencer was carrying and said, "I hate to tell you this Spencer but you may want to see if you can exchange those."

As they looked back at her confused, JJ continued, "Hotch told me that they are having a girl."

Both Spencer and Garcia responded, "what?"

"That can't be. When I had lunch with Emily shortly after I came back from maternity leave, she commented that she was going to have a boy as well." Garcia stated.

Spencer nodded as he said, "yeah Emily has said that in the office as well." Spencer had been working in the office with Emily for the last few weeks as they were trying to make sense of crimes across multiple jurisdiction trying to determine if it was the same UNSUB. At least until she suddenly went out on leave the previous week.

Before they could say anything else, the door opened again. This time Hotch walked into the room. Shouts of 'daddy' filled the room as Eden and Jack ran over to him.

When he reached him, Jack asked, "is the baby here?" Over the last couple of years Jack had been spending more time with Hotch and Emily.

As promised when Hotch took the position as Head of the BAU, the Director personally submitted a letter about the specifics of the new position. This satisfied the judge and Hotch maintained the custody arrangement as 50/50 joint custody. Over time, Haley had accepted the change as she saw that Hotch was serious about wanting the time with Jack. That his new job allowed him to have quality time with him.

Hotch nodded before saying to the group, "I'm going to take these two back first and then the rest of you can come visit in a few minutes."

Before he could walk out of the room, Dave asked after the confusion in the conversation between Garcia, JJ and Reid, "boy or girl, Hotch?"

He turned back and smiled before answering, "you'll see for yourself in about 10 minutes." before walking out of the room with the kids, leaving a confused group behind him.

After the door closed again, Dave turned to the group and said, "OK, what is everyone's bet?"

**####**

Exactly 10 minutes later, the group now with Krystall who had arrived in the waiting room right before they left the waiting room to walk to Emily's room eager to have the confusion cleared up. In the time that they had been waiting all of them had made bets about whether they thought Hotch and Emily had had a boy or girl. Dave smirked as he put the notebook in his pocket of everyone's bet amused that no one else had made the same obvious bet as he had.

As they all entered Emily's room, there were a series of gasps as they found Hotch sitting in a chair with Eden on his lap while holding a baby wrapped in a pink blanket while Jack was sitting on the bed next to Emily holding a baby in a blue blanket."

"TWINS. You were having twins and you didn't tell us." Garcia stated loudly.

"So this is where the confusion on boy versus girl came up." Reid stated.

"Excuse me." Emily stated.

"You told Garcia and Spencer that you were having a boy while Hotch told me that you were having a girl." JJ explained

"Well at different times, that was what we were led to believe." Hotch grumbled still upset about the confusion they had experienced over the last few months

"What?" Morgan said.

"On the first ultrasound, they told us it was a boy. A later ultrasound showed we were having a girl. So both ultrasounds had been right about gender as we have one of each but also wrong as it wasn't until last week that we found out there were two in there." Emily explained.

"That is why you all the sudden went out on leave last week instead of waiting until next week." JJ stated.

Hotch nodded as he said, "we were planning on telling all of you at family dinner tonight but these two had other plans."

"Can we hold them?" Morgan asked.

"Of course." Emily answered.

"Have you picked names yet?" Dave asked.

Hotch nodded as he said, "Yes. Morgan is holding Arielle Corrine and JJ is holding Landon Oliver."

"They're beautiful. Congratulations Princess. Hotch." Morgan said as he passed the baby to Dave.

"Welcome to the family little ones. We are all a bit crazy but there is a lot of love to go around as well." Garcia said before the group laughed at the comment.

"And the way things are going you will never be short of playmates." JJ said as she looked at all the kids in the room.

As the conversation slowed down, Dave pulled his notebook out of his pocket and proclaimed, "I won."

"You all took bets." Hotch exclaimed though not at all surprised that his team had made wagers.

"Well yeah. What else were we going to do while we waited for you to be ready for us to come back." Morgan answered.

"How did you win again?" Krystall asked.

Dave laughed before saying, "well, I've suspected for a couple of months that Emily was expecting twins but didn't dare say anything as Hotch would have shot me if I made her cry. I also know from experience that these two are full of surprises."


End file.
